


Digimon Tri- Daemon's Revenge

by embracingmagic



Category: Digimon - All Media Types, Digimon Adventure, Digimon Adventure tri.
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-21
Updated: 2017-01-31
Packaged: 2018-09-01 07:17:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 48,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8614720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/embracingmagic/pseuds/embracingmagic
Summary: Tensions rise between the digital and human worlds with the DigiDestined caught in the middle.Kari is dreaming of the dark ocean again, while a visitor begs the DigiDestined return to the Digital World.The story starts off similar to the first digimon tri movie but will go in a very different direction,





	1. Infection- Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> My version of digimon tri. The relationships are slow building and not the main focus of the story. I hope you enjoy!

Ice cold wind bit into Kari, freezing the blood in her veins. The sand beneath her feet was unnaturally white, a stark contrast to the dark water she could hear lapping against the shoreline. In the distance a white lighthouse stood out against the stormy sky. Instead of a light shining from the tower, dark black energy cut through the sky, casting misery out along the shore.

 

Kari’s heart sped up in fear as she took in her surroundings. They were frightfully familiar. A place she had visited before. Hopelessness washed over Kari. It was a feeling that went hand in hand with the dark ocean.

 

She thought of her brother Tai who was strong and brave. She thought of her best friend TK, whose determination to rescue her had saved her the last time she had found herself trapped in this dark place. She wasn’t strong like them. She couldn’t save herself.

 

The black light shining from the light house suddenly froze. She could no longer hear the water lapping against the sand. It was unnaturally quite. A dark shadow slowly emerged from the water. It was a giant figure with pointed horns on each side of its hooded head, two leathery wings surrounding its thick body. Memories hit Kari. Memories of a terrifying enemy, too strong for her friends to defeat. One they had, in desperation, locked away in the dark ocean.

 

The digimon didn’t say anything. Its eyes bore down on her, taking her in. Kari wondered what it thought of her, the small child of light alone surrounded by crushing darkness.

 

Kari thought she heard the echo of a deep, mocking laughter before she woke with a start.

 

* * *

 

**Tai**

 

Tai was late, why was he always late? He could have sworn he set his alarm this morning!

 

Tai rushed around his apartment trying to collect his things. He wouldn’t mind if he was late for school but the last thing he needed was another lecture from his mum, his teachers, or even worse from Sora.

 

Tai sighed. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to go to school, he was looking forward to seeing his friends. He just found school so boring. He missed the days of the digital world, having adventures and hanging out with his friends. Six years ago he was the leader of a group of children who saved the world. Today he had maths and history.

 

Tai almost crashed into his sister Kari. He expected a snarky comment about his time management skills and did a double take when it didn’t come. Kari did look a bit pale, like she hadn’t slept well.

 

“Hey, are you OK Kari?” he asked, automatically worried. Worrying about his little sister was a habit from his childhood that Tai didn’t think would ever go away. Tai would always put her first.

 

“I’m fine, I just didn’t sleep very well” Kari smiled. She was already dressed. Knowing her she had been ready for hours.

 

“Aren’t you late?” Kari asked, some of her usual humour returning.

 

“Yeah, yeah” Tai said, rolling his eyes.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Tai sat down on the green grass of the school’s soccer pitch. He had just finished training and was stretching his legs. It felt good to be outside playing soccer after a long day of school. The soccer pitch was the one place he had left where he still felt like a leader. If he closed his eyes he could almost pretend he was back in the digital world relaxing on the grass with his friends after an exciting battle.

 

Tai sighed. It seemed like he was stuck in the past while everyone else was moving on. He had hardly seen his friends today. Matt was busy with his band and extra homework. Sora had tennis, not to mention she was avoiding some of Tai’s team mates who had been trying to convince her to re-join the soccer team. Izzy was in a different grade and busy doing some computer thing that Tai only pretended to understand. Joe, TK and Davis all went to other schools.

 

Tai looked out across the field to where the cheerleaders had also just finished training. His eyes lingered on a girl with long, light brown hair. He’d heard Mimi was back but he hadn’t seen her for himself until now, apparently she had joined the cheer squad. Tai laughed feeling a bit sorry for the other cheerleaders. Not everyone was use to Mimi’s unique enthusiasm and most of the cheerleaders looked exhausted.  Tai picked himself up of the ground and went over to say hello.

 

“Hey Mimi,” he greeted.

 

“Tai!” Mimi cried with enthusiasm throwing her arms around him in a tight hug.

 

Tai hugged her back with a grin on his face. He hadn’t seen Mimi since her return from America and he hadn’t realised how much he had missed her.

 

“It’s great to see you Mimi! Are you back for good now?” Tai asked.

 

“Hopefully! I loved living in America but I missed you guys so much!” Mimi said. “How is everyone? I can’t wait to see them!”

 

“Everyone is really good. You haven’t seen anyone else yet?” Tai asked.

 

“No, Izzy is the only one in my grade but he’s not in any of my classes of course,” she said.

 

Tai smiled, he couldn’t help but notice how pretty Mimi had gotten. Not that she wasn’t always pretty but… _Nope, stop right there_ he told himself.

 

Mimi was still talking. “I’ve been talking to Sora on the phone. We’re going to have a girl’s night at my new house. Do you think Kari would like to come? We can invite Yolie too.”

 

“Umm … sounds fun,” Tai said. “I’m sure Kari would love to come.”

 

“Great! I’ll call her! The rest of us really should do something too. I want to see everybody!” Mimi said.

 

“Yeah definitely.”

 

“Awesome! Well I better go but it was really good to see you Tai.” Mimi said.

 

“Yeah bye Princess,” Tai said.

 

Mimi huffed and gave Tai’s arm a gentle slap at the reminder of her time as Princess Mimi but Tai could see she was smiling.

 

“Bye Tai!” Mimi left, jogging to catch up with some of her friends.

 

Tai watched her leave before he noticed that some of his teammates were staring. He shot them a glare and headed back to the changerooms.

 

 

* * *

 

 

**Joe**

 

Joe pushed his hand through his hair with a huff. He was currently at the library with his school books spread out around him. He’s been here since school finished a few hours ago. Despite the extra effort he had been putting into his school work his grades hadn’t been improving. He was exhausted, maybe he was coming down with something.

 

Joe looked across the table to where his friend Matt was sitting with a take away coffee. Sometimes Joe wondered if Matt even ate during the day or if he just survived off an endless amount of caffeine. Joe and Matt had been studying together for a few weeks now and in that time Matt’s grades had been improving. _At least someone’s have_ , Joe thought to himself.

 

Deciding it was time to take a break from his own work Joe picked up his younger friends work to check over it. Joe couldn’t help but be surprised by how good Matt’s work was. He was impressed. Impressed, not jealous … OK maybe a little bit jealous.

 

“This is really good,” Joe said sliding Matt’s work back across the table.

 

“Thank you,” Matt said.

 

“Hey Matt,” Joe said. “What’s with all the work you’ve been doing lately? I never thought you were all that interested in school.”

 

“I don’t know,” Matt shrugged. “Well … I’m not like you, you’ve always known you wanted to be a doctor but I have no idea what I want to do. I guess I just want to keep my options open.”

 

“That’s smart,” Joe said.

 

“Yeah thanks.” Matt said. He seemed to study Joe for a moment. “You doing OK Joe?” he asked.

Joe sighed deeply. “I’ve just got so much work to do and my grades are nowhere good enough. I don’t know what my parents will say if I fail.” Joe admitted.

 

“Do you want me to leave?” Matt asked.

 

“No!” Joe said immediately. He wouldn’t admit it, he knew it was childish, but Joe missed his friends. Spending time with Matt, even if they were studying, was nice. He wished he could take some time off and see his other friends more but he had to be responsible.

 

“You know it’s not the end of the world if you don’t end up being a doctor right?” Matt said. “There are plenty of jobs you’d be great at, you know being reliable and all that?”

 

 _Tell that to my parents_ , Joe thought.

 

“Yeah thanks Matt,” Joe said instead. Trust the bearer of the crest of friendship to cheer him up even temporarily. Matt looked uncomfortable at the deep turn the conversation had taken. Joe decided to help him out. “So how’s TK?” he asked.

 

* * *

 

When Joe returned home later that afternoon his mind was on the numerous assignments waiting for him on his desk. It looked as though his mum had spent the day cleaning. Joe could smell the bleach in the air and it left an uncomfortable taste in his mouth.

 

“Where have you been?” Joe’s mum asked as soon when she saw him.

 

“I was with a friend,” Joe said. “We were studying,” he added at his mother’s concerned look.

 

“Well I suppose that’s fine, as long as you’re not falling behind,” she said.

 

Joe tried to smile in response but he was sure it came out more like a grimace.

 

 

* * *

 

 

**Tai**

Tai dumped his backpack on the ground by the front door. He knew his parents were out of town for the night visiting his grandma. He wondered if there was any food in the fridge, any food his mother didn’t cook that was.

 

Tai was just considering calling Matt and getting him to cook something when he almost crashed into his sister.

 

“Hey what are you doing here?” Tai asked. “Didn’t Mimi call you? She was going to invite you over to her house”

 

“Yeah she did. I didn’t feel like going anywhere tonight,” Kari said.

 

“OK.”  Tai looked at Kari. She looked pale and she was missing her regular smile. “Are you OK Kari?”

 

“I’m fine,” she said. “I’m just tired.”

 

“Kari.” Tai took a step closer to his sister laying a comforting hand on her arm. “I’m worried. Please tell me what’s wrong.”

 

Kari took a deep breath. “It’s … I had a dream last night.”

 

Tai gently led Kari to the couch and they sat down together. “A dream?” he asked.

 

“I dreamt that I was in the dark ocean.” Kari admitted.

 

Tai felt his stomach drop. “Oh.”

 

“I’m scared Tai.” Kari admitted with a trembling voice. “What if it takes me again? I can’t….”

 

“Woah Kari listen …” Tai reached out and held onto Kari looking into her eyes.  “It was just a dream OK? And even if it wasn’t you know I’d never let anything hurt you again. Neither would TK, Davis, Yolie or Matt. You’ve got so many friends to protect you.”

 

Kari looked away.

 

“Seriously Kari it was just a dream OK?” Tai said.

 

“OK,” Kari’s voice trembled. Tai could tell she wasn’t convinced. He tried to think of something that would cheer her up.

 

“We don’t have school tomorrow. How about you call TK and I’ll take you both to get ice cream?”

 

Kari smiled weakly. “Thank you Tai.”

 

“That’s OK,” he said. “How about I get you something to eat?”

 

Tai went to the kitchen and had a quick look through the cupboards. “There’s nothing to eat I’m calling Matt.”

 

* * *

 

“Did you only invite me over to feed you? I’m not your mother Tai,” Matt huffed as he worked his way around the Yagami’s kitchen.

 

Tai walked up behind Matt and wrapped his arms around Matt’s middle. “Of course not,” he said, “you’re more like my husband.”

 

Matt responded with a sharp elbow to Tai’s stomach but Tai could see a small smile on his face.

 

“I saw Mimi today,” Tai said lifting himself up to sit on the kitchen bench.

 

“Yeah, how is she?” Matt asked.

 

“She’s good. We all should all do something soon, it’s been so long since we’ve all been together,” Tai said.

 

“Yeah good luck getting everyone together, everyone has been so busy lately. I studied with Joe today, you should have heard him talking about how much work he has to do.” Matt said.

 

“Yeah whatever Mr Brainiac, I still say we should do something. We can have a party. Hey! I’ll hire your band! What are you called now?” Tai teased.

 

“Knife of Day,” Matt said.

 

Tai smiled but held back from teasing Matt further. He understood Matt better than most people thought he did and knew when not to push.

 

“Really though we should do something,” Tai said.

 

“Yeah,” Matt said.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Later Tai and Matt were sitting in the Yagami’s living room with Kari having just finished their dinner.

 

“Thank you for dinner Matt,” Kari said as she headed back to her room.

 

“That’s ok,” Matt said watching her leave.

 

“Is she OK?” Matt asked.

 

“Yeah, she’s been having dreams again” Tai said

 

“Dreams?”

 

“Yeah,” Tai said looking at Matt, “like of the dark ocean.”

 

Matt moved in closer to Tai. “Are you worried? TK told me what happened last time.”

 

“Yeah,” Tai confessed. “I don’t know if it’s just nightmares or something more but last time really scared her.”

 

“Well hopefully it’s nothing.” Matt said looking away.

 

“You don’t miss it at all?” Tai asked. “The digital world?”

 

“Of course I miss Gabumon and the others, but fighting and the world ending stuff- that I could do without” Matt said.

 

“I guess,” Tai said. “I just miss feeling useful.”

 

“Tai, even if something did happen you know it would probably be the new kids that would have to deal with it anyway?” Matt said.

 

“Yeah, I know, I still feel responsible though.” Tai admitted. “I was the leader first.”

 

“Self appointed leader.” Matt pointed out

 

“Seriously?”

 

“I’m joking,” Matt smiled.

 

“I get what you mean though,” Matt admitted. “I know they’re strong and stuff but I don’t think I’d be able to just step aside and not do anything if something happened.”

 

“I know,” Tai said.

 

Matt laughed again. “Beside TK and Davis are probably still fighting over Kari.”

 

“They’re not,” Tai said.

 

Matt looked sceptical.

 

“Davis told me! He doesn’t like Kari anymore. Why does TK? You tell him to stay away from her!” Tai said.

 

Matt laughed. “Can you imagine if they started dating! And you wouldn’t even be able to give him the big brother talk because you’d be too scared of _his_ older brother!”

 

“Oh yeah!” Tai chucked a pillow at the still laughing Matt.

 

“Hey stop it!” Matt cried. He paused and then said in a more serious voice. “Seriously though Tai, you know you’re not useless without the digital world. The way you look out for us all even now. That’s important.”

 

“Yeah, whatever,” Tai said. “Are you staying tonight?”

 

“No, Dad will be home. I still have time to play a few video games if you want,” Matt said.

 

“Fine. Get ready to lose!”

 


	2. Infection- Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An infected digimon attacks the real world, Tai has a visitor and the kids get together for a group meeting.

**Tai**

 

Tai was enjoying the bright, sunny day. He had just made good on his promise to take Kari and TK out for ice cream and was walking home alone. By the time Tai decided to leave Kari seemed to be in a better mood so he thought he would leave her and TK alone for a while.

 

Tai thought about Kari, despite the fact that he had put on a smile and told her not to worry Tai was concerned. He knew the dark ocean had effected Kari before. There was a small part of Tai that hoped the dreams really did mean something and they could fight again but he desperately pushed those thoughts down, feeling guilty.

 

Tai walked past the soccer fields. He could hear the sounds of people practising. It looked like younger kids playing. He thought he could just make out Davis, Tai’s old goggles sitting on top of his head.

 

As if he could sense Tai’s gaze Davis looked up and smiled giving his mentor a big wave. Tai smiled and waved back. Davis’s enthusiasm sometimes seemed infectious and Tai felt some of his worries fade.

 

Tai wasn’t sure how long he stood watching soccer practice. He knew he’d have to be going soon but it was so nice out in the sun. Soon Davis was running over to great him.

 

“Hey Tai! Did you see me? I totally kicked but today!”

 

Tai smiled and checked the time on his phone. The screen read 4:71.

 

 _That’s weird_ Tai thought.

 

Davis was still talking.

 

“I really think we can win, no one else on Ken’s team is as good as he is and we’ve been training really hard… Tai are you listening?”

 

“What? Oh yeah sorry I was distracted,” Tai admitted. “Hey do you have the time?”

 

Davis frowned. “No, my watch and phone have been acting funny all day. Maybe there is a storm or something?”

 

Tai looked pointedly at the sun and then gave Davis an incredulous look that would have made Matt proud.

 

“Oh well I don’t know do I?” Davis said.

 

Whatever else Davis was going to say was interrupted by a loud yell from the soccer pitch.

 

Davis and Tai shared a worried look and then sprung into action. Tai jumped over the fence and together they ran over to see what was wrong.

 

It didn’t take them long to find out. One of Davis’s team mates was pointing to the sky. Tai followed his gaze and felt his heart stop for a moment at what he saw.

 

Kuwagamon in the real world.

 

 _What is he doing here?_ Tai thought.

 

He didn’t have long to think because soon Kuwagamon was on them. Tai dove to the ground and saw others do the same. There was a rush of wind as Kuwagamon just barely passed over them.

 

Tai looked up. Kuwagamon had turned and was headed back their way. He was flying right at a group of Davis’s teammates.

 

“Oi! Ugly!” Davis yelled, kicking a soccer ball at Kuwagamon. The ball missed but it was enough to distract Kuwagamon for a moment.

 

Tai could see someone was going to get hurt if he didn’t do something.

 

“Davis!” he yelled. “Davis! You need to get everyone out of here! I’ll distract it!”

 

“But..”

 

“Davis! Go!” Tai said firmly.

 

Davis nodded. “Hey everyone we need to get out of here! Follow me! Run!”

 

Tai watched as Davis lead the group away to the changerooms. Kuwagamon could see them too.

 

“Hey Kuwagamon!” Tai spotted a ball nearby and, like Davis had earlier, kicked it hard at Kawagamon. This time Kuwagamon was hit.

 

Kawagamon roared and changed course setting his sights on Tai.

 

Tai waited until Kawagamon was right on top of him and threw himself to the ground again. Kawagomon just passed over him.

 

Tai looked up. Kawagamon was heading right for him on the ground. There was nothing he could do.

Tai squeezed his eyes shut.

Nothing happened.

 

Tai opened his eyes to see a bright light shining from his pocket. The light seemed to surprise Kawagamon who had pulled out of his dive. Tai reached down to the source of the light. It was his digivice.

 

“Pepper breath!”

 

Tai’s heart leapt and a hysterical laugh forced its way out of his throat.

 

“Agumon!” Tai could feel the massive smile on his face. The presence of his digimon partner had Tai feeling truly whole for the first time in years.

 

Agumon turned around with a matching grin but there was no time for a reunion. Kawagamon had recovered from his surprise and was now swooping towards the smaller digimon.

 

“Agumon!” Tai cried urgently. He held his digivice out. Agumon nodded understanding what Tai meant.

 

A bright light engulfed Agumon. It faded to reveal Agumon’s champion form Greymon. Tai was confident they would win now. He turned to look at Kawagamon who had hesitated at the sight of the larger digimon. For the first time Tai noticed something was not quite right about Kawagamon. He seemed to be flicking. Tai could see some of Kawagamon’s data rearranging itself.

 

“Nova Blast!” Greymon attacked Kawagamon sending a giant flame ball at him.

 

Kawagamon dodged in the sky. Greymon’s attack missed Kawagamon and flew into the side of the changerooms. Bricks and dust were blasted into the air. Tai’s blood ran cold. Where were Davis and his friends?

 

Kawagamon roared and charged at Greymon again. This time he was much closer. Greymon spun catching Kawagamon with his tail and sending him crashing into the ground.

 

“Nova Blast!” Greymon attacked the dazed Kawagamon. This time he didn’t miss and Kawagamon was blasted into a mass of data.

 

Tai’s focus was still on the changerooms. As the dust started to fade he could see the damage wasn’t too bad. Greymon had only taken a small chunk out of the roof. Everyone would be fine. Tai smiled in relief.

 

Greymon’s body flashed yellow and he started shrinking. The glow faded and Agumon reappeared in his place. Heart racing Tai ran forward and wrapped his arms around his partner.

 

“Tai!” Agumon said snuggling into Tai’s arms. “Tai I’ve missed you!”

 

Tai’s breath caught in his throat. “I missed you too Agumon.” He tightened his arms. “I missed you so much.”

* * *

 

When Tai and Agumon returned home they were surprised to find Gatomon sitting on the couch talking with Kari. Gatomon told them she hasn’t sure how but she had arrived about an hour ago, around the time of Kawagamon’s attack. Tai sent a quick message to the other Digidestined and they had replied saying their digimon had appeared too. They had a meeting planned that night at Tai’s house to talk about everything.

 

Tai, Kari and their digimon were all sitting on the couch together when the doorbell rang. Tai and Kari exchanged a nervous look. No one was due over yet and their parents wouldn’t be home for a few hours.

 

“I’ll get it Tai,” said standing up.

 

Tai opened the door to reveal a tall unfamiliar man wearing a dark suit.

 

“Taichi Yagami?” he asked

 

“Umm…”

 

“My name is Shuu Tamura,” he said. “I’m here to talk to you about the digital monster attack that took place earlier today.”

 

“Digital Monsters?” Tai laughed nervously. “I wouldn’t know anything about that. I think you might have the wrong person.” Tai started to shut the door.

 

Shuu sighed impatiently. “Mr Yagami, I work for a special government agency which was established to deal with threats from the digital world. We have information about all the Digidestined and their digimon partners. As I said we need to talk about today’s events. Please may I come inside?”

 

Tai hesitated for a moment “sure,” he said. “Please come in,” he said more loudly hoping Kari would hear and hide the digimon.

 

Tai led Shuu into the lounge room where Kari was sitting nervously. Tai couldn’t see Agumon or Gatomon but he assumed they were hiding nearby. Gatomon, he knew, was especially weary around strangers and wasn’t likely to let Kari out of her sight around a strange man.

 

“Umm,” Tai hovered unsure near the couch. “Can I get you a drink, or…”

 

“No thank you,” Shuu said.

 

“Miss Yagami,” Shuu nodded in Kari’s direction. “As I told your brother my name is Shuu Tamura, I’m a representative from a government task force focused on protecting the city from digital threats.”

 

Shuu turned his head slightly to address both siblings. “I’m here to tell you to stay out of this fight.”

 

“Hold on! What?” Tai exclaimed.

 

“But sir,” Kari started.

 

“I’m aware of what the Digidestined have accomplished in the past, however our agents are highly trained for combat. The government feels we are able to handle threats much more effectively than a group of children, no matter how powerful they might be,” Shuu said.

 

Agumon and Gatomon appeared from around the corner. “You can’t do that!” Agumon exclaimed. “They are the Digidestined! They were chosen!”

 

Shuu startled at the sight of the two digimon. Tai thought it was probably the first time he had ever seen a digimon in real life.

 

“I’m aware of that,” Shuu said. “I know who you all are.”

 

“If you know who we are,” Gatmon interrupted in a cool voice fixing her unblinking stare on the agent, “then you know we can handle _any_ threat to our partners or their world.”

 

“Yeah,” Agumon agreed obviously missing Gatmon thinly veiled threat.

 

If the narrowing of Shuu’s eyes was any indication he hadn’t missed the threat. “And how many people have been hurt by your _protection_ of this world? How many people have been hurt by a fight that had nothing to do with them?”

 

Kari paled at the agent’s words and Tai felt a lump in his throat. “That isn’t our fault!” he defended. “We’ve saved people! We’ve saved the world!”

 

Shuu’s gaze softened. “I know you have,” he said gently. “But now there is a better way. While you and Greymon battled Kuwagamon today my agents dealt with several other digital threats and they did so without any injuries or significant damage.”

 

Tai’s stomach dropped, was the damage to the clubrooms worse than he had thought? Tai’s eyes darted to Agumon hoping the small digimon didn’t catch Shuu’s implication. Judging from the confused and guilty look on his face he had.

 

“But no one was hurt!” Tai said. “I know Greymon hit a building but it wasn’t that bad!”

 

Shuu gave Tai a levelled look. “Maybe you should ask your friend Davis is anyone was hurt”.

 

Kari sucked in a deep breath.

 

“I did!” Tai said, talking to both Kari more than Shuu. “I called him straight away! He said everyone was fine!”

 

Shuu gave Tai an indecipherable look which could have been sympathy. “Maybe you should ask him again. I really need to be going.” Shuu handed Tai a business card with his number on it. “Think about what I’ve said, I’ll be in contact soon.”

 

Tai nodded, unsure of what to think. “OK”

 

Shuu gave Tai a week smile. He hesitated on the way to the door. “There is something else you should know,” the agent said. “The digimon that attacked today, they were suffering from an infection which seems to make them more violent. That’s why they attacked today. There isn’t a cure for the infection.”

 

“How do you know that?” Gatomon asked sharply. “Are you getting information from someone in the digital world?”

 

“I can’t share that information,” Shuu said glancing towards Gatomon. He turned to address Tai and Kari again. “I’m sure I’ll see you again soon, goodbye.”

 

The sound of the front door closing echoed through the apartment.

 

“I would like to use that man as a scratching post,” Gatomon huffed.

 

“Is he right Tai? Did I hurt someone?” Agumon asked tearfully.

 

Tai did his best to smile. “Of course not buddy, you heard Davis, he said everything was fine.”

 

“But Tai,” Agumon said.

 

“Everything is fine. I’m going to my room for a bit,” Tai said.

 

“Tai, are you OK?” Kari reached for her brother’s hand.

 

‘Yeah,” he said. “I just need some space.”

 

“Ok,” Kari said gently. “Hey are you two hungry let’s go to the kitchen, I’ll find you something to eat!”

 

* * *

 

**Joe**

It was rare anything was ever out of place in the Kido household. The exception was Joe’s room which often had cloths and belongings thrown haphazardly on the floor. His desk was a complete disaster zone with unfinished assignments and notes spread out across the space.

 

Joe was currently at his desk with his head laying down on top of some notes. He squinted at an assignment in front of him, trying to make out the due date, as if he didn’t already have it memorised.

 

Joe started to close his eyes. _A few hours rest won’t hurt then I’ll finish it,_ Joe told himself.

 

His thoughts were interrupted by a scream coming from the kitchen. His eyes snapped open. _Mum!_

 

Joe raced into the kitchen. He skidded on the freshly cleaned floor and had to catch himself on the counter. His mum was gaping at something in the loungeroom.

 

“Joe!”

 

Joe smiled broadly. “Gomamon?” Joe ran forward wrapping his arms around the smiling digimon.

 

“Joe?” him mother was staring at them.

 

“Umm,” Jo hesitated. “Mum, this is Gomamon?” Joe laughed awkwardly.

 

 

* * *

 

 

A short while later Joe’s mum had gone to have a lie down. Maybe she thought she had hallucinated Gomamon before. Joe and Gomamon were together in Joe’s room. Gomamon was catching Joe up on everything that had happened in the Digital World in the last few years while Joe’s eyes drifted towards his textbooks.

 

Joe had pretty quickly figured out that there must have been a problem in either the real or Digital World. He was happy to see Gomamon but a small part of his mind thought that this couldn’t have happened at a worse time.

 

Joe’s suspicions were confirmed when he received a message from Tai calling for an emergency meetup. Joe looked from his phone, to Gomamon and then to his text books.

 

“Who was that Joe?” Gomamon asked.

 

Joe hesitated. “No one. It was no one.”

* * *

 

**Tai**

Tai’s parents arrived home just before everyone was due to arrive. Tai and Kari were sitting in the loungeroom waiting when they walked in.

 

“Hi mum, hi dad,” Kari said.

 

“Hi kids,” their mum said. “Grandma says hello. Next time we visit…” she trailed off at the sight of Agumon and Gatomon

 

“Oh hello,” she said. “Not that it’s not good to see you two again but is something wrong?”

 

Tai shrugged. “We’re not really sure yet. I invited the others over to talk about it is that OK?”

 

“Yes of course Sweetie,” their mum said. “Oh! I should prepare some food for everyone!”

 

Kari grimanced.

 

“Oh no that’s OK mum,” Tai said running his hands through his hair. “I think everyone was going to eat before they came over”.

 

* * *

 

 

Soon everyone but Joe had arrived at the Yagami’s house. When Tai asked if he was coming Matt frowned and said he was probably too busy. They were all spread around the loungeroom. Tai’s parents had gone out to give the kids space and to buy tea. Tai had just finished telling everyone what had happened.

 

Tai looked over to where Davis was sitting with Ken. Ken and Wormmon were fussing over the bruise that was forming on Davis’s head while Veemon sat happily on his lap.

 

“You said nobody was hurt,” Tai said.

 

“No one was, not really, it’s only a bruise,” Davis said with a shrug. “Veemon showed up and pushed me out of the way, didn’t you Vee?” he looked down at the digimon in his lap.

 

“Yep yep,” Veemon grinned proudly.

 

Tai didn’t miss the grateful smile and gentle pat Ken offered the blue digimon.

 

“We were both worried about you,” Kari said.

 

Davis looked a bit sheepish. “Sorry,” he said.

 

“What about you Tai, are you OK?” Sora asked gently.

 

Tai smiled in response. “Yeah I’m OK.”

 

“So who was the guy that showed up here then?” Matt interrupted frowning again.

 

“Agent Shuu Tamura,” Tai said. He hesitated before going on. “He said that we should stay out of it, that the government would handle it.”

 

“What!” Davis exclaimed, jumping up and knocking Veemon to the ground. “He can’t be serious! We’re the Digidesited!”

 

“Yeah!” said Veemon, “you should let me at him! I’ll show him who’s boss!”

 

Gatomon huffed from Kari’s lap. “Get in line.”

 

Matt smiled at the digimon. “Don’t worry,” he said “of course we’re not going to stay out of it, right Tai?”

 

Tai looked away.

 

“Tai?” Sora asked.

 

“Maybe we should listen,” Tai said. “When Greymon’s blast hit the building today I thought people were seriously hurt. It wasn’t your fault buddy,” Tai ensured Agumon. “But imagine what would have happened if there had been more people around.”

 

“You can’t be serious,” Matt said. “Why don’t you try imagining what would have happened if Agumon hadn’t been there instead. Anyway, weren’t you the one who said you wanted to fight again?”

 

 _He’s right I wanted this and people were hurt_ , Tai thought. “And you’re the one who said you didn’t and now all of a sudden you want to ignore what _the government_ told us and charge in fighting!” Tai yelled.

 

“Are they seriously fighting again?” TK asked the group. Beside him Yolie and Cody who had only heard rumours of Matt and Tai’s fighting looked confused.

 

“That’s not what I meant!” Matt yelled back. “Just because I didn’t want to go looking for a fight it doesn’t mean we should sit back! You were right yesterday, it’s our responsibility!”

 

“Yeah which means we are responsible when people get hurt!” Tai yelled. “Tamura said that they could fight the digimon without hurting anyone, can we really say the same? Do you remember how much damage Myotismon did?”

 

“That’s enough! Both of you,” Sora interrupted. She frowned at Matt and Tai until it was clear they were both finished. “Kari,” Sora addressed the younger Yagami sibling. “What did Tamura say about the infection.”

 

Tai saw Kari watching him with a worried expression and made an effort to smile like he was fine.

 

“He said Kawagamon and the other digimon had some kind of infection,” Kari said. “The infection was making them violent and that’s why they attacked. He said there wasn’t a cure but he wouldn’t tell us how he knew that.”

 

“That seems super shady,” TK said.

 

“He was telling the truth,” Tai interjected, “at least about the infection. When Kawagamon attacked I could see there was something wrong with him. He kept flickering.”

 

“That’s odd,” said Izzy who until this moment had been quite, simply observing things. “Tai, if I borrow your digivice I can analyse Kawagamon’s data to find more information about the infection. Ken if you help me maybe we can use the data to try and develop a cure.

 

“I can help too,” Yolie said.

 

Ken and Izzy nodded in agreement. Tai passed his digivice to Izzy.

 

“Thank you,” Izzy told Tai. “I’ll be as quick as I can, I should be able to give it back tomorrow.”

 

“Why? Apparently he doesn’t need it anymore.” Matt said.

 

There was an awkward silence. Tai tried not to let anyone see how much Matt’s words hurt him.

 

“OK,” Sora jumped in before anyone could say anything. “I think that’s enough for tonight. We should all go home and talk about this later.”

 

* * *

 

 

Mimi hung back after the others had left.

 

“Are you OK Tai?” she asked. “You seem stressed.”

 

Tai forced a smile. “It’s just...” _This is what I wanted and people got hurt, more people could have been hurt, Kari’s dreaming of the dark ocean, an actual government agent visited my house, everyone thinks we need to fight but if we do and someone gets hurt that’s on me, Matt hates me again, I don’t know what to do_ “fighting with Matt again.” Tai said instead.

 

Mimi sighed, “he didn’t mean what he said.”

 

“I know,” Tai lied.

 

Mimi looked like she saw through Tai but she didn’t say anything about it. “You know,” she said instead, “when I said we should all get together this wasn’t what I had in mind.”

 

Tai laughed. “Yeah me neither,” he said.

 

“Anyway I should go,” Mimi said. She gave Tai a friendly hug. “I guess I’ll see you at school.”

 

Tai forced himself to smile, “bye Princess.”

 


	3. Infection- Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joe receives an important phone call and is forced to make a decision. Tai gets some advice from an unexpected visitor.

**Joe**

It was dark by the time Joe finally gave up on getting anything done. He sighed deeply looking at Gomamon who was sleeping bathed by the orange light of Joe’s desk lamp. Joe felt guilty about ignoring his friends. He told himself that it wasn’t forever. After he finished his assignments and improved his grades he would be a better friend. He knew it wasn’t true. _So much for responsibility._

 

Joe’s thoughts were interrupted by his phone’s ringtone. He had been expecting a call from someone regarding his no show at the meeting. He wondered who it was who had actually called.

 

_Mimi_

 

Joe might have ignored the call if it had been anyone else but he and Mimi had always had an understanding of each other. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad …

 

“Hello,” Joe answered wearily.

 

“Joe! Hi!” Mimi answered. Although her voice was cheerful Joe thought it sounded forced.

 

“Look, I’m sorry about tonight I would have been there but …” Joe trailed off.

 

“It’s OK. I’m sure you had your reasons.” Mimi said. She filled Joe in about what had happened. She sighed. “We needed you Joe. When Matt and Tai fight like that it’s so hard on the rest of us. Besides Sora you’re the only one they both listen to.”

 

“That’s not true.” Joe said.

 

“Yes it is,” Mimi said. “They respect you Joe. We all do.”

 

Joe looked at Gomamon asleep on his bed, his little chest moving up and down with each breath. Joe’s breath caught in his throat.

 

“I’m sorry,” he said.

 

“That’s OK,” Mimi said. “Just promise me you’ll try and be there next time.”

 

“I promise,” Joe said and as he hung up he wasn’t sure if he was telling the truth or not.

* * *

 

 

“Wake up Joe!”

 

A heavy weight landed on Joe’s chest startling him awake. He squinted against the morning sun steaming into his room.

 

“Gomamon?” Joe slowly opened his eyes looking down at the seal digimon. “What are you doing?”

 

“You were asleep for a long time,” Gomamon said. He was bouncing up and down with his little flippers tapping against Joe’s chest. “It’s time to get up! I’m hungry!”

 

Joe remembered his mum was home. He didn’t want to startle her again. “Umm why don’t you wait here? I’ll go get you something to eat.”

 

Joe found some fish in the fridge which Gomamon eagerly gobbled down. “Who called you last night?” Gomamon asked. “You seemed upset.”

 

Joe frowned, he should have known Gomamon wasn’t really sleeping. “It was Mimi,” he admitted.

 

“Oh yay!” Gomamon said. “Are we going to see her and Palmon today? When will we see everyone else?”

 

Joe looked at Gomamon’s excited face and couldn’t bring himself to lie. “No we’re not seeing them today. Umm everyone else actually met up last night.”

 

“And they didn’t invited you?” Gomamon tilted his head. “Do you want me to digivolve and teach them a lesson?”

 

Joe couldn’t help a small smile. “No, they invited me. I … I didn’t go,” he admitted.

 

“Why not?” Gomamon asked.

 

“I had a lot of work to do,” Joe said.

 

“Work?” Gomamon looked confused. “But they’re our friends! What if they were in trouble?”

 

“You don’t understand Gomamon! This is my future! It’s important! As much as I want to help I need to be responsible!”

 

“But what about your responsibility to your friends? They need us Joe.”

 

“There is only so much I can do Gomamon,” Joe said. He hung his head suddenly feeling exhausted.

Joe’s phone rang, cutting through the silence. Joe sighed and looked at the phone display. It was Cody.

 

“Hello,” Joe answered, grateful for the distraction.

 

“Joe!” Cody sounded panicked. “I need help! There was an attack near the river! I’m the only one here! There’s a group from the government here but they are losing! I don’t know what to do Joe!”

 

Joe looked into Gomamon’s big concerned eyes.

 

“We’ll be there.”

 

* * *

Joe and Gomamon arrived to total panic. It looked like most of the area had already been evacuated but there were still some people running to get away. Joe could see what looked like army personal lined up near the river.

_What the hell?_ Joe thought.

 

 Giant waves were crashing up against the riverbank spraying the area with water. Joe could just make out a dark shape of a large digimon in the middle of the river.

 

“Joe!” Cody came running over followed by Armadillomon.

 

“Cody? What’s going on?” Joe asked.

 

“It’s MarineDevimon,” Cody said. “He just showed up and started attacking people! I didn’t know what to do. The government people told us to stay out of it but I think MarineDevimon is too strong for them to handle.”

 

Joe was confused. Maybe missing the meeting was a mistake after all. He looked out at the river and now he knew what he was looking for he could make out MarineDevimon’s long arms.

 

“Ok, I don’t know what’s going on with the government people but we need to stop MarineDevimon before someone is hurt,” Joe said. “Gomamon, Armadillomon, are you two ready to digivolve?”

 

Gomamon smiled. “Sure am!” Joe squinted and turned away as Gomamon started glowing. When he turned back around Ikkakumon was standing where Gomamon had been. Joe patted Ikkakumon’s fur with a smile. He had missed this more than he could admit.

 

Armadillomon waddled down to the water edge. “Ready Cody?” he asked.

 

Cody looked unsure but nodded anyway. He reached for his D-Terminal. “Digiarmor Energize!” he shouted.

 

Armadillomon used the digiegg off reliability to digivolve into Submarimon. Cody climbed inside of Submarimon’s cockpit.

 

“Ready to go?” Joe asked.

 

Cody nodded.

 

“Right,” Joe said climbing up onto Ikkakumon’s back. “You two go underwater but don’t attack until we do got it?”

 

“OK,” Cody agreed and Submarimon took off through the water.

 

“Let’s go Ikkakumon,” Joe said giving his digimon another pat.

 

Ikkakumon started paddling on top of the water towards MarineDevimon. Joe closed his eyes against the harsh water spray that was hitting him in the face.

 

“Not too close,” Joe said. “Stop here.”

 

MarineDevimon turned to look at them with a smirk. “Digidestined,” he said. “This doesn’t concern you. You should go home while you still can.”

 

“Doesn’t concern us?” Joe asked. “You’re attacking innocent people! That does concern us!”

 

“Innocent!” MarineDevimon shrieked. “These humans are not innocent! They have taken to fighting us digimon!”

 

“You mean the digimon that have been coming into our world?” Joe asked. “They are defending people from them!”

 

“They have no right!” MarineDevimon yelled.

 

“But …”

 

“Enough!” MarineDevimon yelled. One of his tentacles smashed down into the water creating a wave of water that smashed into Ikkakumon. Joe tightened his grip as Ikkakumon rocked dangerously.

 

“Dark Deluge!” Before they had time to recover. MarineDevimon sent a dangerous looking black ink attack towards them.

 

Ikkakumon dove and Joe was suddenly underwater. He tried to ignore the panic and biting cold. Joe tightened his grip on Ikkakumon’s fur, his lungs were burning.

 

Joe felt his head break the surface of the water. He gasped, filling his lungs with oxygen.

 

“Harpoon Torpedo!” Ikkakumon wasted no time in returning attack.

 

Ikkakumon’s Harpoon Torpedo hit MarineDevimon and coursed him to stumble. Furious bubbles coming from underwater indicated Cody had begun to attack too. MarineDevimon roared and starting smashing his tentacles down into the water trying to get Cody and Submarimon.

 

Joe pushed his face closer to Ikkakumon’s neck trying to keep water out of his eyes. “It’s not enough Ikkakumon,” he said. “Do you think you can digivolve?”

 

“You bet I can!” Ikkakumon said.

 

Joe held on tight as Ikkakumon’s body began to change form. The transformation didn’t take long and soon Joe was hanging onto one of the large spikes on Zudomon’s back.

 

“Great Zudomon! Lets take him down!” Joe yelled.

 

“Vulcan’s Hammer!” Zudomon yelled smashing his massive hammer down. Lighting rushed from the hammer and hit MarineDevimon who fell into the water with a roar.

 

A second yell told Joe that Submarimon had hit him from under water.

 

“Again Zudomon! While he’s down!”

 

Zudomon swung his hammer down again. This time as the lightning hit MarineDevimon exploded into a cloud of data.

 

“Yes! Way to go Zudomon!” Joe yelled.

 

Before Zudomon could reply he started rapidly shrinking. “Zudomon!”

 

Joe fell into the water. He quickly kicked to surface and was greeted by a grinning Gomamon.

 

“Really? You couldn’t wait until we were on the land?” Joe asked with a frown.

 

“Nope!” Gomamon said.

 

Joe glared at Gomamon.

 

“Fine,” Gomamon sighed. “Marching Fishes!” Joe was suddenly lifted up onto a raft of brightly coloured fishes. “Better?” Gomamon asked.

 

Joe laughed. “Much better.” He patted Gomamon’s head. “You did so good little buddy!”

 

Gomamon beamed. “We both did! Lets go get dry!”

* * *

When they returned to shore Joe could see the army personal watching him and Cody carefully. They slipped away before anyone could approach them.

 

Cody filled Joe in about the meeting as they were walking home.

 

“So the government wants us to do nothing?” Joe asked. “And Tai agreed?”

 

“Yes but Matt and Davis disagreed,” Cody said. “They never came to a decision that’s why I wasn’t sure what to do before you got here.”

 

Joe frowned in confusion.

 

“I think Tai was worried about people getting hurt,” Cody said.

 

Joe didn’t reply and they walked in silence for a while.

 

“Thank you for coming today Joe. Matt told us how busy you’ve been so it means a lot that we can still rely on you,” Cody said.

 

Joe’s breath caught in his throat. He looked at Gomamon who was looking at him with a knowing smile.

 

“You’re welcome Cody,” Joe said

 

Joe stopped walking. “Joe?” Cody asked.

 

“Umm. You go ahead Cody. I just remembered there is something I need to do before I go home. It was nice to see you though.” Joe said.

 

“OK,” Cody looked confused. “See you later Joe!”

 

Joe waved goodbye and set off in the opposite direction. There was something he needed to do.

* * *

**Tai**

Tai was playing video games with Agumon trying to take his mind off of what happened yesterday when there was a knock on the door.

 

“Tai honey! There’s someone here to see you!” Tai’s mum yelled.

 

Tai paused his game and went to see who it was. Hopefully not Matt, he wasn’t in the mood. “Joe?” he asked.

 

Joe was standing in his living room with a grinning Gomamon. They were both dripping wet. _What the hell Joe?_ Tai thought.

 

“Umm …” Tai’s mum looked unsure. “Would you like a towel Joe?”

 

Joe only just seemed to realise he was dripping wet in someone else’s house. He blushed furiously. “Oh that would be great, thank you Mrs Yagami.”

 

Mrs Yagami left and returned a moment later with a towel.

 

“Thank you,” Joe said politely.

 

“You’re welcome.” Mrs Yagami said. “Are you hungry? I’ve been baking all morning.”

 

“No thank you Mrs Yagami. Gomamon might be hungry though,” Joe said.

 

“Hey Agumon how about you take Gomamon to get something to eat?” Tai suggested. “Do you want to come and change?” Tai asked Joe nodding towards his room.

 

“Oh good idea, thank you,” Joe said.

 

* * *

 

 

A short while later Joe was sitting on Tai’s bed wearing a pair of Tai’s track pants and his warm soccer jacket. Agumon and Gomamon were still in the kitchen. Apparently Mrs Yagami’s cooking was very popular with digimon. Joe had filled Tai in about the digimon attack this morning and Tai had caught Joe up on the meeting.

 

“An infection?” Joe asked.

 

“Yeah I could tell straight away there was something wrong with Kuwagamon. He just wasn’t right you know? MarineDevimon wasn’t like that?” Tai asked.

 

“No,” Joe said. “There was nothing out of ordinary about him.”

 

“And he said he was attacking because of the humans fighting against digimon?” Tai asked.

 

“Yes. Look Tai,” Joe paused. “Cody told me that a government agent visited you. He told me you fought with Matt about it.”

 

Tai looked away. He didn’t know how to feel. Yesturday he was so sure that letting the government handle things had been for the best but it had caused MarineDevimon’s attack. Every decision Tai made seemed to be the wrong one.

 

“I just don’t know what to do Joe,” Tai admitted. “I’m responsible if someone gets hurt.”

 

“No Tai. You’re not,” Joe said. “I’ve had to think a lot about what responsibility means in the last two days. I think responsibility means doing your best in a situation. People might get hurt but we’ll do our best to protect them.”

 

Tai was unsure.

 

“Tai, it’s ok if you don’t know what to do.” Joe said. “You’ve had all of this pressure on your shoulders since you were eleven. The rest of us, we all needed to take time to find ourselves. Remember when me, Mimi and Matt all left while you were fighting the Dark Masters or when Sora didn’t think she deserved the crest of love? We’ve all had our moments Tai, maybe now it’s your turn.”

 

Tai felt himself tear up and looked away embarrassed. “Thank you Joe.”

 

“You’re welcome. We’re a team right? I promise the next time you need me I’m going to be there.”

 


	4. Manipulation- Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tai deals with the aftermath of his fight with Matt and sets up a meeting with Agent Tamura. Sora catches up with Mimi.

Shuu Tamura was standing in an unfamiliar environment. Darkness stretched out around him. He could hear trees rustling in the wind and the trickling of a nearby stream. He should feel scared but instead he felt unnaturally calm as though there was something dulling his emotions.

“How goes your defence of the human world?” a sinister voice asked from the dark.

 

Shuu jumped and had to swallow a lump in his throat before replying. “We’ve been able to defeat most of the infected digimon we have battled but the last digimon that attacked was too powerful. We had to rely on the DigiDestined’s help. Maybe they should be allowed to help out.”

 

“Do you really believe the defence of your world should be left to children?” the voice asked.

 

“No,” Shuu said.

 

“Good,” the voice answered. “You should continue to fight the infected digimon. I haven’t led you wrong yet have I?”

 

“No,” Shuu said. “Of course not Cherrymon.”

 

“Good,” Cherrymon said. “Now it’s time to wake up Mr Tamura.

 

 

* * *

 

 

**Sora**

Sora was in class staring absent mindedly out of the window. It was such a nice day outside. She’d rather be out there doing … something than sitting in class worrying. Sora remembered what Biyomon said yesterday after Tai called, _you worry too much about other people Sora._ But Sora couldn’t help but worry, especially about her two stupid boys. Matt was angry and upset at Tai and Tai well … Sora wasn’t quite sure what was going on in Tai’s head but she knew that his fight with Matt had hurt him more than he would let on. Most of the time it wasn’t so bad. Matt and Tai usually had each other’s backs but when they were fighting Sora felt that a lot of the responsibility of looking after them fell on her.

 

It wasn’t just Matt and Tai who were worrying Sora. While digimon were attacking the city they were all in danger. Sora sort of understood where Tai was coming from that perspective. He was just worried too, it didn’t make him right though. There was also Izzy. Sora hadn’t spoken to him since the meeting but she didn’t need to to know he probably hadn’t left his computer yesterday, desperately trying to find a way to help but not taking care of himself. And although she had pushed it to the back of her mind in the wake of the digimon fiasco there was still her worry about her activities and her future. Soccer or tennis? What will she do after highschool?

 

Luckily Sora’s thoughts were interrupted by the lunch bell. Sora got something to eat and went outside. She was soon joined by Matt. Sora felt her heart flutter as he sat down next to her. _Stop it_ , she told herself.

 

“Hi Sora,” Matt said.

 

“Hi,” Sora said nervously. She was never sure how to act when she was alone with Matt. It was easy when everyone else was around but when they were alone it was too easy to pretend it was three years ago and they were still dating.

 

“Gabumon wanted to come to school with me today.” Matt said. “I felt bad leaving him alone but I don’t think he knows how boring school is!”

 

Sora laughed. “Biyomon wanted to come too. I left her at the flower shop with mum, she seemed happy there.”

 

They sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes. Sora looked carefully at Matt. Although he appeared relaxed Sora was good at reading Matt and she could see the worry written on his face.

 

“Are you OK?” she asked.

 

Matt smiled. “Yeah, just …” he made a vague gesture with his hand. Sora knew what he meant. He was still thinking about his fight with Tai. While Tai usually came to Sora to complain about Matt, Matt preferred to keep Sora out of their fights.

 

Sora knew she was heading into dangerous territory. “I think if you spoke to him calmly he might be ready to listen. Especially after what happened yesterday.

 

Matt looked up sharply. “What happened yesterday?”

 

 “Tai didn’t call you?” _Oops._

“No,” Matt growled.

 

“Oh umm.” _Tai why do you do this to me!_ “There was another attack yesterday. Joe and Cody dealt with it. This digimon wasn’t infected though.”

 

“And Tai didn’t think I needed to know that? Joe either?” Matt asked.

 

“Tai was probably just worried about what you’d say,” Sora said. “There’s something else. Apparently the digimon attacked because they were angry at the government for interfering.”

 

“What! I knew something like this would happen!” Matt jumped up.

 

“Matt! Wait!”

 

“No! I’m going to find Tai! That idiot!”

 

“Matt please!” Sora grabbed onto Matt’s hand pulling him back. “Please just calm down! He’s upset too and I don’t want you to fight!”

 

Matt paused and looked down to where their hands were still joined. Sora felt herself blush.

 

“OK, umm” now Matt looked uncomfortable. “Hey Sora … umm my band is having a practise show tonight. Do you maybe want to come? We could do something after?”

 

Sora felt her heart flutter. It wasn’t fair Matt was the one who broke up with her! Why was he doing this?  “I’m sorry, Mimi asked me to come over to her place tonight. Maybe some other time?”

 

“Oh,” now Matt was blushing. “Yeah some other time.”

 

Sora watched him walk away with a smile. Maybe things weren’t so bad after all.

 

 

* * *

 

 

**Tai**

Tai felt a little better after his talk with Joe. He was still worried about the responsibility that came with leading the DigiDestined in a dangerous time but he thought maybe Joe was right, maybe he just needed a bit of time to think things over.

 

Tai was putting his books back in his locker when he was joined by Izzy.

 

“Here you go.” Izzy said handing Tai his digivice. “I was able to put Kawagamon in the digimon analyser and I’ve isolated the infected data. But I don’t understand it yet, Ken and Yolie are coming over to help me later.”

 

“Hello Izzy, how are you? I’m good,” Tai said sarcastically.

 

Izzy huffed. “Sorry. I’ve been working on this all night.”

 

Tai looked at Izzy. He did look tired. His skin was pale and he had dark circles under his eyes. Tai instantly felt guilty. What right did he have to put his responsibilities aside while Izzy was working so hard?

 

“That’s great Izzy but maybe you should have a rest, you look exhausted. I’m sure Ken and Yolie will be OK on their own. I mean Ken created his own digimon remember?”

 

Izzy smiled. “Yeah I remember but I’m fine, really.”

 

Tai was about to answer but was distracted when he spotted Matt storming towards him.

 

“Uh oh.”

 

Matt came right up in front of Tai. “Why didn’t you tell me about Joe?” he demanded.

 

Tai sighed. He suddenly felt as tired as Izzy looked. “Can we please do this later?”

 

“No! We can not do this later! You’re keeping things from me just because you don’t want to admit I was right!”

 

“That’s not what happened!”

 

“OK,” Izzy said. “I think that’s my queue to leave.” He looked nervously between Matt and Tai before hurrying off.

 

Tai took a deep breath. “I don’t want to fight with you Matt.” He noticed people were staring so he grabbed Matt’s arm and dragged him into an empty classroom.

 

“I don’t want to fight with you either,” Matt admitted after Tai shut the door.

 

The two boys looked at each other in silence for a moment. “I wish you hadn’t done that,” Matt said. “I think people already think we’re secretly dating.”

 

Tai tried to smile. “No, I told you before we’re married.”

 

Matt smiled too but it didn’t reach his eyes.

 

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about Joe and MarineDevimon.”

 

“I’m sorry I yelled at you.”

 

Tai felt his eyes filling with tears and tried to look away

 

“Hey,” Matt stepped closer and grabbed onto Tai’s hand, pulling him to sit down on a desk together. “Tell me what’s going on.”

“I’m so confused,” Tai admitted. “I don’t know what the right thing to do is anymore. I thought listening to Shuu and the government was for the best but now it’s not just the infected digimon we have to worry about. Those digimon yesterday only attacked because of the government fighting. If Joe and Cody hadn’t been there people would have been hurt.

 

“Joe thinks I need some time away from the group to think things over,” Tai said.

 

Matt’s face was impossible to read. “Is that what you want?”

 

“I don’t think so. I thought he was right but I don’t think I can do it,” Tai admitted.

 

“OK, well I promise I’ll be there to help you even if you change your mind,” Matt said.

 

Tai smiled, “thank you Matt. To be honest I’m surprised you weren’t angrier before.”

 

“Oh I was,” Matt admitted. “But Sora asked me not to fight with you.”

 

Tai laughed. “And you listened? I wish I could get you to do what I wanted that easily!”

 

Matt blushed. “Shut up!” He paused before continuing, “I asked her out.”

 

“Oh.”

 

“Do you mind?” Matt asked nervously.

 

“I don’t get why you broke up with her in the first place,” Tai said.

 

“I mean…”

 

“I know what you mean,” Tai interrupted. “I … I liked Sora but that was a long time ago and she never felt the same way anyway. It’s really fine. Just don’t hurt her again OK.”

 

“I wouldn’t. She didn’t say yes anyway.”

 

“What?”

 

“She said she was busy but maybe another time,” Matt said.

 

“Well that’s not a no!”

 

“It kind of felt like it.”

 

“Maybe that’s for the best,” Tai said trying to listen the mood. “I don’t think I’m ready to share you again.”

 

Matt smiled. “Oh my God shut up! We’re not married Tai!” He shoved Tai gently. “I should get going, I want to look over my notes before class.”

 

“K, bye nerd.”

 

Matt’s only response was to stick his finger up at Tai on his way to the door.

 

 

* * *

 

 

After school finished Tai went home to collect Agumon and then went to the park where he had arranged to meet with Agent Tamura. Tai wanted to know whether the government had changed their minds after the MarineDevimon attack. Kari didn’t think the meeting was a good idea and they had to convince Gatomon to stay behind.

 

When Shuu arrived Tai noticed he looked tired. His face was stoney as Tai described the brief conversation Joe had had with MarineDevimon.

 

“So you’re telling me that it is no longer only infected digimon that are a threat? The digimon have declared war on our world?” Shuu asked.

 

“Yes,” Tai said. “I mean no, not all digimon! Only MarineDevimon and maybe a small group. I don’t know but it’s not all digimon. I think they feel like our human government is sticking their nose where it doesn’t belong. Maybe if the DigiDestined where allowed to fight alongside the government it might help.”

 

“MarineDevimon attacked your friends as well.”

 

“Yes, I know that but he was only there because…”

 

“That’s enough Mr Yagami. I’ve said all I’ve had to say. You and your friends need to leave things alone or the next digimon my team faces may very well be one of yours.”

 

“But…”

 

“Goodbye Mr Yagami,” Shuu said immediately walking away.

 

Tai huffed and looked at Agumon. “I don’t think that could have gone any worse,” he said. Agumon nodded in agreement.

 

“What do you think we should do?” Tai asked. “Should we back off?”

 

Agumon looked thoughtful for a moment. “I don’t think so. If MarineDevimon was telling the truth you were right he only attacked because of those humans. Us digimon trust the DigiDestined to help in times of need. If those people keep you out of the fight more digimon might join MarineDevimon’s cause.”

 

“Yeah,” Tai said. “That’s what I thought.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

**Sora**

Sora was relaxing on Mimi’s soft bed listing to Mimi’s pop music. Even though a lot of Mimi’s things were still packed in boxes Sora could see Mimi’s influence in the room, from the pink bed spread to a beautiful print on the wall. Sora laughed when she saw the cactus on Mimi’s desk, she wondered if Mimi had bought that with Togamon in mind or if it was a coincidence.

 

Biyomon and Palmon were playing a game together in the corner. Already Biyomon had accused Palmon of cheating twice and even given her a peck in retaliation. Sora was considering taking the game away but was distracted by a frustrated squeal from Mimi.

 

“What’s wrong Mimi?” Sora asked.

 

“I can’t find anything nice to wear!” Mimi said. She was surrounded by a pile of cloths that she had pulled out of her cupboard.

 

Sora sighed but got up to help. “What are you trying to find cloths for?”

 

“School tomorrow,” Mimi said. “I want something nice to wear to cheer practice.”

 

“Why?” Sora asked.

 

“Umm, no reason,” Mimi said. Was she blushing? “So Matt asked you out today?”

 

Sora sighed. “I don’t know! I mean he asked me to come to practice with him but I don’t know if it was supposed to be a date or not!”

 

“It probably was,” Palmon interjected. Biyomon nodded her head in agreement.

 

“Did you want it to be a date?” Mimi asked.

 

“I don’t know,” Sora said. “Maybe.”

 

“Yes, she did,” Biyomon said.

 

“Be quite Biyomon!” Sora said.

 

“So … you still like Matt then?” Mimi asked. “You don’t like anyone else?”

 

“No, why?” Sora asked.

 

“No reason,” Mimi was smiling. “How about this?” Mimi set out an outfit on her bed.

 

“That’s OK,” Sora said “But what about …” she swapped the shoes for a pair of long boots she would never wear but looked great on Mimi and added a jacket and necklace.

 

“That’s perfect!” Mimi said with a smile. “You’re really good at this Sora! I should get you to pick my outfits all the time!”

 

Sora smiled. “I’m glad to help.” She spotted a nice shirt on the ground. “What about this? It’s nice?”

 

“Oh,” Mimi said, “yeah but it was a rip.”

 

“I can fix that,” Sora said finding the hole. “You won’t even be able to tell.”

 

“Really? You can keep it if you want to.” Mimi said.

 

“Thank you Mimi!” Sora said.

 

“You know you don’t have to fix everything don’t you?” Mimi asked.

 

“Ha?” Sora looked at Mimi with confusion. “What do you mean?”

 

“Just, you try so hard to fix everything for us all the time.” Mimi said. “This thing with Matt and Tai … you know it’s not your responsibility to fix that too?”

 

“I… thank you Mimi,” Sora said.

 

“That’s OK, now come here! I want to see what other outfits you can put together for me!”

 

Sora rolled her eyes but she was smiling. Today had turned out pretty well.

 

 

* * *

 

 

It was starting to get dark by the time Sora left Mimi’s. She was carrying Biyomon in her arms listening to her talk about her game with Palmon.

 

“… it was so much fun but she was cheating! You saw her cheating right!”

 

“I don’t think she was Biyomon.”

 

Biyomon lifted her head suddenly. “Did you hear that Sora?” she asked.

 

Sora was about to say no but then she heard it too. A piercing screech cut through the sky. “What was that? Please don’t tell me…” Sora didn’t finish her sentence because she spotted the source of the sound. It was giant bird type digimon. It was eerily similar to Birdramon but it was covered in black flames. Sora could see the digimon flickering, it was infected.

 

“That’s Saberdramon,” Biyomon said. “She evolves from Biyomon too.”

 

Sora wanted to take Biyomon and run but she knew she couldn’t. Saberdramon swooped down onto a building, smashing the glass windows with her claws. Sora could hear screaming from inside the building.

 

“Can you beat her?” Sora asked.

 

Biyomon nodded confidently. She flew out of Sora’s arms and started glowing. Sora had to look away. When she looked back Biyomon had evolved into Birdramon.

 

“Birdramon! You need to get her away from those buildings! Take the fight up to the sky where she can’t hurt anyone!” Sora yelled.

 

“Right!” Birdramon spread her wings and sored up into the sky. Saberdramon took off chasing after her. Birdramon turned around and both birds let out a tremendous screech as they crashed together.

 

Talons and wings were cutting through the air in a violent flurry of motion. Sora’s heart clenched when she hurt pained cries but she couldn’t tell which digimon the sounds were coming from. On the ground people were running away past Sora.

 

Birdramon hooked her claws into Saberdramon’s side and pushed, putting some space between the two birds.

 

“Meteor Wing!” Birdramon’s attack hit Saberdramon square in the chest and Saberdramon exploded in a cloud of data.

 

Sora’s relief was short lived as Birdramon fell from the sky. “Birdramon!”

 

Birdramon hit the ground with a pained sound that made Sora feel sick. She ran towards Birdramon just in time to see her turn back into Biyomon.

 

Biyomon was covered in scratches and Sora could tell she was very woozy. Sora’s eyes filled with tears. “Biyomon. Biyomon are you OK?”

 

Biyomon smiled weakly. “I’m fine,” she said before she passed out in Sora’s arms.

 


	5. Manipulation- Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sora receives some bad news. Tai spends time with Mimi, Kari and Sora.

**Sora**

 

Sora was frantic by the time she returned home. Biyomon had woken up briefly but was now fast asleep in Sora’s bed. Sora’s hands were shaking as she picked up her phone. She wanted to call Tai or Matt but she didn’t want to worry them. She looked at Biyomon’s injuries and made up her mind, she dialled a different number.

 

“Hello.”

 

“Izzy?”

 

“Oh hi Sora,” Izzy said. “Is everything OK? You don’t sound so good.”

 

“I’m fine Izzy. I was just wondering if you’ve found out anything about the infection.”

 

Izzy huffed. “No. I would love to know where the government has been getting their information. Ken had to stop Yolie from hacking into their files.”

 

“Good, that would be a bad idea. So you don’t know if the infection is contagious then?”

 

“Contagious?” Izzy asked.

 

“Yeah. I was just thinking do you think it’s possible that if a digimon was scratched or bit by an infected digimon they would become infected?” Sora asked.

 

“It’s possible,” Izzy said. “That’s just hypothetical right? You don’t think Greymon … or anyone else is infected?”

 

“Yeah,” Sora said. “Hypothetical. Hey Izzy I have to go, thanks.”

 

“Sora wait…”

 

Sora hung up the phone.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Sora hurried home from school. She had left Biyomon home alone today, keeping her out of the flower shop just in case.

 

“Biyomon?” Sora burst into her room “Biyomon, are you OK?”

 

“Sora?” Biyomon was sitting up on Sora’s bed. She looked OK. “What are you doing home so early? I thought you might have plans with Matt today?” Biyomon smiled cheekily.

 

Sora smiled in relief. “I came straight home, I was worried about you!”

 

Biyomon’s grin faded. “You worry too much Sora. You worry about everyone but yourself.”

 

“Of course I was worried about you B, you’re my best friend,” Sora said.

 

“It’s not just me though Sora. You worry about everyone,” Biyomon said.

 

“Well they’re my friends too,” Sora said.

 

“But it’s so hard on you. I’ve see how stressed you’ve been for the last few days. I don’t want to make it worse.”

 

“Make it worse? Why would you make it worse?” Sora asked.

 

Biyomon’s big blue eyes filled with tears and she looked away from Sora.

 

“Biyomon?”

 

Biyomon lifted her wing to cover her eyes. Sora’s stomach dropped when she saw what had Biyomon worried. Biyomon’s wing was flickering.

 

“You’re…” Her words were cut off by a lump in her throat. Sora could feel her eyes filling with tears. “You’re infected?”

 

“Sora. Please don’t worry about me,” Biyomon cried.

 

“B!”

 

“Sora please! No matter what happens to me I want you to be happy!”

 

Sora swallowed and tried to wipe away her tears. “OK Biyomon, I’ll try.”

 

“Thank you Sora,” Biyomon gave Sora a weak smile. “Do you think we can do something? Something that makes you happy”

 

“Of course we can,” Sora said.

 

“So what makes you happy?” Biyomon asked.

 

“Oh, well…” Sora couldn’t answer. Had it really been that long since she’d done something for herself?

 

“What about sewing? You said at Mimi’s you were good at sewing.”

 

“I am but that’s not really fun, it’s more like a job,” Sora said.

 

“Tennis?”

 

Sora shrugged.

 

“What about soccer? You liked that before you started playing tennis.”

 

“I like soccer,” Sora said. “I just stopped liking playing against other people.”

 

“So we won’t play a real game,” Biyomon said. “Call Tai and see if we can go play with him and Agumon.”

 

“But,” Sora hesitated. “Biyomon if you’re infected…”

 

Biyomon shrugged. “Agumon will be fine as long as I don’t bite or scratch him, he fought Kuwagamon and didn’t get infected remember?

 

Sora smiled. “OK then, Tai has practise now but I’ll call him later, promise.”

 

* * *

 

 

**Tai**

Tai was glad that soccer training had just finished. He had been distracted by his conversation with Shuu the whole time and had performed horribly. After the meeting Tai had sent everyone a message warning them to be careful if they had to fight around Shuu’s team.

 

Tai noticed Sora had been distracted and distant all day. He wondered if she was worried about his warning or if there was something else going on.

 

Tai had just grabbed his bag when he spotted Mimi walking towards him. He couldn’t help but notice she looked nice today. Her high boots made her legs look even longer than normal. Tai felt his face heat up and quickly looked up to her face. He wondered how her hair looked so nice after cheer practise. He ran his hands through his own messy, knotted hair self-consciously.

 

“Hi Tai.”

 

“Hey Mimi.”

 

“I was wondering if you wanted to walk home together?” Mimi said.

 

“What? I mean, yeah, sure.” Tai mentally slapped himself, when did talking get so hard?

 

Mimi smiled. Tai ignored the looks his team mates were giving him as they left together.

 

* * *

 

 

They stopped on their way home to get a juice from a shop near the river and sat down on the river bank together. They both tried their best to ignore the signs of destruction that MarineDevimon had caused.

 

They spent almost an hour sitting and catching up. Mimi told Tai about her time in America and Tai told Mimi stories about their friends that she had missed. They were talking for a while before Mimi brought up the subject of Sora and Matt.

 

“Sora said Matt asked her out yesterday.”

 

“Yeah and she said no,” Tai said.

 

“She wasn’t sure if he was even asking her out,” Mimi said.

 

“He was,” Tai confirmed. “He was all mopey about it. I don’t think he’s ever been rejected before.”

 

Mimi smiled. “She wasn’t rejecting him, she really was busy.”

 

“That’s what I told him.”

 

“And you’re OK with it?” Mimi asked.

 

“What?”

 

“Matt and Sora, are you OK with it?”

 

Tai flushed in embarrassment. Mimi had lived in America at the time and even she knew about what had happened between him and Sora.

 

“Yeah. I actually am,” Tai said. “I mean I did like Sora for a while but I got over it. They were really good together. I was so pissed at Matt when he broke up with her.”

 

“Do you know why they broke up?” Mimi asked.

 

“No, he never told me. He was just extra sulky for a few weeks after and then tried to pretend everything was fine.”

 

“That sounds like him,” Mimi said.

 

“What about you?” Tai asked.

 

“What about me?”

 

“Well Davis and I thought you kind of liked Matt at the time.”

 

“You talked to Davis about Matt and Sora? Was it like a ‘the girl I like likes my blond rival’ club?” Mimi teased.

 

“Something like that,” Tai said. “So did you?”

 

Mimi laughed. “Can you imagine Matt and I together? I mean, I know I can get a bit emotional sometimes?”

 

“A bit?”

 

Mimi slapped Tai on the arm. “Shut up! … Ok well maybe more than a bit. My point is Matt’s not exactly good at dealing with that.”

 

Tai thought about how Matt had comforted him in the classroom yesterday. “He’s gotten lot’s better since you’ve been gone,” he defended his best friend.

 

“Maybe, but no I was never interested in Matt,” Mimi said.

 

“Good.”

 

“Good?”

 

Tai felt himself blush again. “I mean cause Sora.” He made a weird hand gesture. _What the hell man?_ He scolded himself.

 

“So tell me more about your little broken hearts club,” Mimi teased. “Was I going to get an invite if I really did like Matt or is it a goggle head only club?”

 

“Oh my God!” Tai groaned. “It was not a club! I shouldn’t have even said anything.”

 

Mimi laughed at him. They sat in silence for a while before Tai looked at his watch. “We probably should get going,” he said standing and offering Mimi a hand up.

 

Mimi accepted his help and Tai spent the rest of the walk home pretending he didn’t wish she hadn’t let go.

 

* * *

 

 

“Oh look what the cat dragged in,” Gatomon said when Tai got home.

 

“Is that what you do all day while Kari’s at school? Sit around thinking of cat puns?” Tai shot back.

 

Gatomon was about to reply but was cut off by Kari. “Stop it you two,” she said, but Tai could tell she was smiling.

 

“Tai! You’re home!” Agumon came running out of the kitchen and Tai scooped him up for a hug.

 

“Hey buddy!” They sat down on the couch with Kari and Gatomon. Tai gave Gatomon a playful nudge with his foot and Gatomon took a lazy swipe at him in retaliation.

 

“Kari! Your cat almost took my arm off! Agumon digivolve and get her!”

 

“I’m sure you deserved it,” Kari said. She looked at Tai, “you’re in a good mood. Good training session?”

 

“Yeah,” Tai lied. “What about you? Have a good day at school?”

 

“It was OK.” Kari hesitated, “Yolie said they haven’t had much luck finding out about the infection.”

 

“Izzy said the same thing.” Tai said turning his attention to the TV.

 

Kari was quite for a moment. “Hey Tai, do you remember before this whole thing started you told me my dream probably didn’t mean anything?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

Kari looked nervous. “Do you still think that?

 

Tai considered lying but he knew Kari would see right through him and that would be worse. “Honesty no. It seems like too much of a coincidence.”

 

Kari nodded like she had expected that answer. “If Daemon is involved then whatever’s going on is more serious than a few infected digimon.”

 

“Daemon? You didn’t say anything about Daemon before.”

 

Kari looked guilty. “I was scared,” she admitted, “but he was there in my first dream.”

 

Tai exchanged a look with Gatomon. Gatomon narrowed her eyes.

 

“Well it doesn’t change anything,” Tai said firmly. “Whatever happens we’ll deal with it. Besides you don’t need to worry, not with the Cat Queen looking after you, I’m sure she could take Daemon on her own.”

 

“Too right I could,” Gatomon grumbled.

 

Tai smiled. “There you go, nothing to worry about. Seriously Kari, everything’s going to be OK I promise.”

 

“Thank you Tai.”

 

Tai’s phone buzzed. “Hey Agumon you feel like having a game of soccer?”

 

Agumon grinned excitedly.

 

“Was that Davis? Does he want to practise with you? I swear even with all the digimon stuff happening, all he’s talked this week is his game against Ken, not that he doesn’t always talk about Ken but this is getting ridiculous.”

 

Tai laughed. “Actually it was Sora. Do you want to come?”

 

“No that’s OK,” Kari said. “You two have fun.”

* * *

 

Tai laughed. After his bad training session today it felt good to just mess around with the soccer ball. They were at the school soccer ground and no one else was around. He and Sora had practised some tricks for Agumon and Biyomon’s amusement, now they were taking turns shooting goals.

 

“Wow, you’ve still got it!” Tai said as Sora scored. “Why did you quit anyway?”

 

“I started playing tennis. I liked that I didn’t have to worry about letting my team down anymore,” Sora admitted.

 

Tai looked at Sora. She looked upset, her shoulders were slumped and she was avoiding eye contact. “You know you’ve never let our team down right Sora?” Tai said.

 

Sora turned to look at Biyomon who was trying to do soccer tricks with Agumon. “What if I was keeping a secret from the team?”

 

Tai didn’t know what to say. He could tell that whatever was upsetting Sora was serious. “I … I trust you. If you’re keeping something to yourself I’m sure you have a good reason.”

 

Sora looked away from Biyomon and sighed. “Biyomon thinks I worry too much,” she said. “She said I need to do more of the things that make me happy.”

 

Tai sat down on the grass and Sora sat down with him. Tai noticed she was fidgety and pulling up handfuls of grass. “So what makes you happy?” he asked.

 

“This,” Sora admitted. “I’ve missed being your friend. I know we still hang out but it hasn’t been the same since…” Sora trailed off but Tai knew what she meant. It hasn’t been the same since he’d realised he had feelings for her only for her to start dating Matt.

 

“Yeah. Sorry about that,” he said.

 

“Me too.”

 

There was a short silence. “You know I’m over that right?” Tai asked. “I mean I still think you’re awesome but I don’t like you like that anymore. I’d be OK if you and Matt started dating again.”

 

Sora looked surprised for a moment but then her face filled with realisation. “Matt told you.” It wasn’t a question.

 

“Yeah,” Tai admitted, “and Mimi.”

 

“Mimi told you!” Sora exclaimed. “Wait when were you even talking to Mimi?”

 

Tai felt his cheeks heat up. “I have soccer when she has cheerleading. We walked home together.”

 

“She saw you after cheerleading?” Sora looked like she was adding something up in her head. “Oh my God!” Sora said with a big smile.

 

“What?” Tai was confused.

 

“Nothing,” Sora said. “I’ll keep her secrets even if she can’t keep mine.”

 

Tai narrowed his eyes at Sora but she only smiled innocently back. They both turned their focus to their digimon.

 

“You can’t use your wings Biyomon!” Tai yelled, “that’s against the rules!”

 

“But he was cheating!” Biyomon said.

 

Sora laughed, for the first time it sounded genuine. “He wasn’t cheating Biyomon! We’ve been watching.”

 

Biyomon frowned.

 

“OK you two,” Tai said “how about we have a game, Me and Biyomon against Agumon and Sora?”

 

“Oh yeah,” Sora said. “Bring it Yagami.”


	6. Manipulation- Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sora and Biyomon are forced to fight a group of infected digimon. Tai tries to convince the government to back off.

**Sora**

Biyomon continued to get worse throughout the week. Sora knew she couldn’t keep putting off telling someone but she was still hoping Izzy could come up with a cure before anything got too bad. They were sitting on Sora’s bed relaxing when she got a phone call.

 

“Hey Izzy.”

 

“Sora,” Izzy sounded panicked. “Yolie convinced Ken to help her hack into the government…”

 

“What! Izzy that is so illegal! They could get it in so much trouble!”

 

“I know but listen we’ve been monitoring their communication since yesterday and there’s been an attack in the city. It’s bad. Apparently the infected digimon have started to team up. Ken and Davis have their soccer game today so I don’t think we’ll be able to get hold of them but Yolie is helping me call everyone else. You’re closest though.”

 

“Izzy,” Sora looked at Biyomon and saw her flicker. “I don’t know if I can help.”

 

“Sora this is serious, they’re fighting right in the city. Someone could get hurt.”

 

Sora hesitated. “OK we’ll be there.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

When Sora and Biyomon arrived at the address Izzy had texted her they had to fight through crowds of dishevelled, screaming people who were fleeing the area. The ground has covered in rubble. Sora could see at least five digimon throwing attacks into the crowd and at buildings. The government agents were set up behind their cars shooting guns at the digimon but all it was doing was making them more aggressive. Sora almost had to shield her ears from the loud noises both sides were making.

 

Sora could feel herself shaking. This was serious. She remembered the text message she had received from Tai during the week. Tai said to be careful if they had to fight around the government because Agent Tamura had threatened to take them down with the infected digimon.

 

“This is bad Biyomon,” Sora said. “Maybe we should wait for the others. The government is here and your infection is getting worse.”

 

“I’ll be fine Sora,” Biyomon said. “Besides I only have to hold them off for a little while, the others will be here soon.”

 

Sora inhaled sharply. “OK B,” she gave Biyomon a kiss on the head. “Please be careful.”

 

“I will.”

 

Sora looked away as Biyomon digivolved to Birdramon.

 

Birdramon glided low to the ground.

 

“Meteor Wing!” She hit a ground level digimon Sora didn’t recognise and then quickly twisted up into the air crashing into an infected digimon.

 

Sora recognised the digimon as Unimon, the unicorn looking digimon who had attacked Joe so long ago.

 

Unimon turned and smashed his front legs into Birdramon causing her to shriek. Sora could see three other digimon attacking the government people.

 

“Birdramon! You need to digivolve!” Sora yelled.

 

Birdramon was too busy fighting to reply but she must have heard because her body started growing rapidly and soon she had evolved into Garudamon.

 

Sora’s stomach dropped as she saw Garudamon flicker. 

 

 “Wing Blade!” Garudamon’s attack hit Unimon causing him to explode. Garudamon immediately took off after the digimon fighting the agents.

 

Something slammed into Sora from behind knocking the breath from her lungs. Sora tried to call out but a hand covered her mouth. Her blood ran cold as she was suddenly lifted into the air. Whoever had Sora landed on top of a building pushing Sora down as he did. Sora felt a burning pain shoot through both her wrists as she landed on the rooftop.

 

“Hello Digidestined,” the digimon said casually.

 

Sora turned around to see the digimon who had her. He looked like a big brown skeleton with black wings.

 

“Who are you?” Sora asked.

 

The digimon smiled. “I’m SkullSatamon.”

 

“You worked for Daemon,” Sora said. “You attacked the city years ago.” Sora’s heart was beating fast. She looked around for a way to escape.

 

“That’s right,” SkullSatamon said.

 

Sora looked carefully at SkullSatamon. “You’re not infected,” she observed.

 

“No, I’m not.”

 

“What’s your plan?” Sora said. “You can’t be doing all this just because you don’t like some humans defending themselves against the infected digimon.”

 

“I don’t think that sound be your main concern right now.” SkullSatamon made a show of looking out at the battle. Sora followed his eyes. Garudamon was battling a group of infected digimon and trying to dodge bullets at the same time. As they were watching Garudamon’s entire body flickered and she slowed down. “She doesn’t look too good does she?” SkullSatamon smirked.

 

Garudamon screamed and her hands flew to her head as though she had a headache. Sora watched in horror as she threw an attack at the government agents.

 

“Garudamon! No!” Sora screamed.

 

SkullSatamon laughed cruelly. “Oops, don’t worry, you won’t be around to see how many people your friend hurts.”

 

Before Sora could move SkullSatamon pulled her up by her top and pulled her towards the edge of the building.

 

“No! Stop please!” Sora struggled against his grip but she couldn’t get free. She could feel tears streaming down her face. “Garudamon! Help!” Sora could see the ground. They were so high up.

 

“Wolf Claw!” Sora saw a flash of red as SkullSatamon dropped her on the ground. Ignoring the pain in her wrists she quickly rolled away from the edge. She saw Matt jumping off WereGarurumon’s back as she clambered to her feet.

 

“Sora!” Matt ran over and through his arms around her. “Are you OK?”

 

Sora lost herself in the hug, clinging on to Matt as though he was her life line. She could hardly breath. “He almost through me off the edge and Garudamon is infected!” She knew she was panicking.

 

“I know, you’re OK now,” he ran his hands through her hair.

 

They broke apart as WereGarurumon landed back on the roof top. “SkullSatamon got away,” he told them.

 

“OK,” Matt said. “You need to get us to the ground. Then … then you need to stop Garudamon.” He avoided eye contact with Sora.

 

Sora hardly felt anything as WereGarurumon lifted her up. Her world was falling apart around her.

 

* * *

 

 

**Tai**

 

Tai stood stunned in the middle of the ruined street. He had just arrived with Kari and TK. He had never seen so much destruction, even when Myotismon had attacked.

 

Tai, Kari and TK ducked as a loud explosion rang out.

 

“Was that a grenade?” TK asked. “The government are doing more damage than the digimon!”

 

Tai pulled Kari and TK behind an abandoned car as gun shots rang out. A shadow passed over them and they looked up to see WereGarurumon jumping after a digimon Tai recognised as SkullSatamon.

 

Tai knew they had to act quickly before everything got out of control. “Gatomon, Patamon, can you two digivolve and go help WereGarurumon?”

 

The two digimon nodded in response and did as Tai said.

 

“What about me Tai?” Agumon asked. “Shouldn’t I help too?”

 

“No,” Tai said. “TK’s right, the government aren’t helping things at the moment. You and I are going to go and convince them to back off.”

 

“No Tai!” Kari said. “You can’t go out there! They are shooting! You could get hurt.”

 

Tai tried to appear more confidant then he felt. “I’ll be fine Kari.” He gave her a quick kiss on the head. “You two stay here behind the car OK, don’t come out.”

 

Kari and TK nodded.

 

“Look after her,” Tai whispered to TK before he took off running with Agumon in his arms.

 

Tai was running on adrenalin as he sprinted to where the government were set up. He tried to stay close to the edge of the buildings to stay out of the way.

 

He had almost reached his target when a heavily armed agent in tactical gear appeared from nowhere pointing a gun at gun at his chest.

 

“Oh my God! Don’t shoot!” Tai was grabbed by his jacket and pulled behind the barricade of cars the government had set up. He held Agumon tightly, his heart felt like it was going to beat out of his chest.

 

“Yagami!” Agent Tamura appeared looking furious. “You and your friends need to get out of here right now!”

 

“No! We can help!” Tai said. “Your team are the ones causing the damage!”

 

Tai and the agents surrounding him ducked as an attack landed close by showing them with rubble.

 

“Does that look like help to you?” Shuu yelled gesturing to where the attack had come from.

 

Tai’s breath caught in his throat.

 

“Garudamon?” Agumon said in confusion.

 

“Your friend is infected,” Shuu snapped.

 

_What if I was keeping a secret from the team?_

 

Too late Tai understood what Sora was talking about.

 

As Tai and Agumon watched WereGarurumon appeared kicking Garudamon and sending her flying to the ground.

 

Tai looked across to where Angemon and Angewomon were battling SkullSatamon. They seemed to be gaining the upper hand.

 

Tai looked back at the agents. “Even if Garudamon is infected we can handle this,” Tai said. “Look around you! This damage wasn’t caused by the digimon it was your team!”

 

Tai saw some of the agents looked unsure or as though they agreed with him but Agent Tamura’s face was set in stone. “I’ve had enough of this,” he said, “fire now.”

 

“On which target sir?” an agent asked.

 

“That one,” Shuu pointed at SkullSatamon.

 

“What! No you can’t do that!” Tai yelled.

 

“Get out of my way Yagami,” Shuu pushed Tai away from him.

 

Tai looked up to where Angemon and Angewomon were fighting SkullSatamon. Angemon had a tight grip on SkullSatamon and was holding him still. Angewomon was about to deliver the final blow.

 

Tai covered his ears as gunshots rang out. The bullets didn’t have an effect on Angemon or Angewomon but they distracted them enough for SkullSatamon to break free.

 

“Nail Bone!” SkullSatamon turned and hit Angemon with his attack causing him to fall to the ground paralysed.

 

“Angemon!” Tai and Agumon yelled.

 

Tai spun to face the agents. “Why did you do that? They were about to finish him off!” he yelled furiously. “You know what? I tried to be reasonable but now we’re going to do it my way! Agumon warp digivolve.”

 

Before the agents could do anything Agumon had flipped out of Tai’s arms and had begun his transformation.

 

“Stay out of our way,” Tai said giving the agents one more filthy look before he allowed himself to be picked up by WarGreymon and together they took off.

 

* * *

 

 

**Sora**

As soon as WereGarurumon dropped them safely on the ground Matt pulled Sora behind a car where Kari and TK were hiding. Sora heard Matt ask if they were OK but she was having trouble concentrating on anything but Garudamon. She flinched as WereGarurumon landed a heavy kick to Garudamon sending her crashing to the ground.

 

Sora breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Garudamon get up mostly unharmed. Her relief was short lived as Angemon came crashing down only seconds later.

 

“Angemon!” TK cried. He tried to run out from behind the car only to be pulled back by Matt.

 

“You can’t go out there TK!” Matt said. “It’s too dangerous.”

 

“TK, it’s OK, Angewomon is protecting him,” Kari said.

 

Sora could see Angewomon hand landed on the ground and was firing arrows from where she had landed. It looked as though SkullSatamon was about to attack but before he could he was hit from behind by WarGreymon.

 

WarGreymon quickly flew to the ground and dropped Tai off. As Tai sprinted towards the group WarGreymon darted back into the sky and launched an attack at SkullSatamon.

 

“Terra Force!”

 

SkullSatamon dodged the attack and counted with an attack of his own which had little effect on WarGreymon.

 

“Hey,” Tai run around the car and ducked down with the group. “Are you guys OK?”

 

“Yeah, we’re fantastic,” Matt said sarcastically.

 

Sora ignored them and turned her focus back towards Garudamon. She and WereGarurumon were trading punches and kicks. WereGarurumon seemed hesitant to hurt Garudamon. As she watched Garudamon hit WereGarurumon with a powerful attack causing him to fall to his knees.

 

“WereGarurumon! You have to digivolve!” Matt yelled.

 

“No!” Sora cried, “He’ll hurt her!”

 

WereGarurumon must have heard Matt over all the noise because he quickly digivolved into MetalGarurumon.

 

She saw Tai and Matt exchange a look. “He’ll do his best not hurt her Sora,” Matt said.

 

Angemon was beginning to recover. Angewomon pulled him to his feet and together they set off to attack the remaining infected digimon who were still causing mayhem. WarGreymon was beginning to gain the upper hand against SkullSatamon. MetalGarurumon launched at Garudamon pinning her to the ground.

 

“Metal Wolf Claw!” MetalGarurumon fired at Garudamon.

 

“Garudamon no!” Sora started running towards Garudamon.

 

“Sora stop!” Someone called, she could hear someone chasing behind her but her focus was on her partner who after being hit had turned back into Biyomon.

“B!” Sora knelt down beside her partner ignoring everything else. Biyomon opened her eyes but there was something wrong. Instead of their normal bright blue her eyes were dull and purple.

 

Before Sora could do anything Biyomon pushed herself up and started flying away.

 

“Biyomon? Biyomon where are you going?” Sora screamed.

 

“It was Skullsatamon,” a voice said. Sora turned and saw that it was Tai and Matt who had followed her. Tai was talking. “He ordered a retreat, the infected digimon … they’re following him.”

 

Sora stared at him blankly. “Sora?” Matt questioned.

 

Sora couldn’t breathe, she felt like she was drowning. Before she knew it she was on her hands and knees with thick tears running down her face.

 

She could feel two sets of hands on her back but she didn’t care. All she wanted was Biyomon.

 

 


	7. Lillymon’s cure- Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Izzy gets some bad news. Tai comes up with a plan.

**Izzy**

Izzy swept through the notes Yolie and Ken had stolen from the government looking for anything that could help. A part of him was angry at the younger DigiDestined for their reckless move, a part of him wished he’d been brave enough to do it himself. For all their genius Izzy was confident he could have gotten into the files quicker and with less chance of being caught.

 

“Did you get hold of Mimi or Joe yet?” Yolie came back into Izzy’s bedroom and sat beside him at his desk where they had been working, along with Ken, all week.

 

“Yes, they are both on their way.” Izzy said. “What about Cody?”

 

“I still couldn’t reach him. I think he was going to watch Davis and Ken’s game. He must have forgotten his phone.”

 

Izzy groaned. _What a good time for a soccer game_ he thought sarcastically. “Hopefully they are almost finished.”

 

Izzy continued to look through the government files. They had files on each of the DigiDestined and their digimon, it was a little bit creepy how much information they had gathered.

 

“Did the files say anything about the infection?” Yolie asked looking over his shoulder.

 

“Nothing we didn’t already know,” Izzy said. “There’s nothing about a cure.”

 

Izzy kept going until he found a file called Cherrymon, it was marked ‘ally’. _Well that’s interesting_ Izzy thought. He clicked on the file but there was no more information.

 

“Who’s Cherrymon?” Yolie asked.

 

“Matt met him on our first adventure to the Digiworld,” Izzy said. “He manipulates people’s feelings to make them do what he wants. If he’s been talking to someone in the government it’s bad news for us.”

 

“Do you want me to take over for a bit Izzy?” Yolie asked. “You look tired.”

 

“I’m fine Yolie.”

 

Yolie might have been about to reply but her phone rang. “Finally! It’s Ken,” she told Izzy.

 

“Put it on speaker.”

 

“Hello, Ken?” Yolie answered.

 

“You made Ken hack into the governments files! What the hell Yolie!”

 

“I didn’t _make_ him do anything Davis!” Yolie snapped. “Give Ken his phone back!”

 

“I’m here Yolie.” Ken said. “I’m with Davis and Cody, you’re on speaker.”

 

“You’re on speaker too,” Yolie said. “I’m with Izzy.”

 

“Yeah whatever Yolie,” Davis snapped. “Why don’t you shut up and explain why we were almost arrested!”

 

“What?” Izzy and Yolie exclaimed at the same time.

 

“Some agents came to out game,” Ken said, he sounded much calmer than Davis. “They know about what we did, they tried to make Davis and I go with them. Luckily Cody was here. He came down from the stand and told them that they had no legal grounds to take us anywhere without evidence.”

 

“Lucky for them,” Davis grumbled. “I don’t think they would have fared too well against Imperialdramon.”

 

Ken ignored Davis’ input. “If they came here they’re probably on their way to you too and I’m guessing they’ll find evidence there.”

 

Izzy glanced at his laptop, yep they would definitely find evidence here. He looked at Yolie, she looked pale. “We need to leave,” he told her.

 

“Where can we go?” Yolie was definitely panicking. “You saw the files, they have all our addresses! If they don’t find us here they will check everyone else’s houses!”

 

“Come here!” Davis said.

 

“Where’s here?” Izzy asked.

 

“Our soccer clubrooms.” Davis said. “Everyone’s gone now and no one is going to come looking for a bunch of computer nerds at a soccer ground! I mean umm … no offence?”

 

“That’s actually a good idea,” Izzy said ignoring the insult. “Do you all have your digimon?”

 

“Yes,” Cody confirmed.

 

“OK. Yolie and I will be there as soon as we can. If we don’t make it soon call Tai and the others to let them know what’s going on.”

 

“OK see you soon,” Ken said and hung up the phone.

 

Izzy took a deep breath. How was this his life?

 

 

* * *

 

 

**Tai**

 

“Matt, we need to get out of here,” Tai said. A group of angry looking agents were storming through the rubble towards them.

 

Matt was crouched down with Sora holding her as she cried. He turned to glare at Tai and Tai nodded in the direction of the approaching agents.

 

“Oh, you’re right, time to go.” Matt pulled Sora to her feet and the three of them ran back to where Kari and TK were waiting. Mimi and Joe had joined them.

 

“Mimi? Joe? When did you get here?” Tai asked.

 

“Just now,” Joe answered. “What on earth happened?”

 

“There’s no time,” Tai said. “We need to go. Palmon can you digivolve to Lillymon and carry Mimi?” Tai saw Matt pull Sora onto MetalGarurumon and Angemon and Angewomon pick up TK and Kari. “WarGreymon can you carry me, Joe and Gomamon?”

 

WarGreymon did as Tai asked and soon they were all in the air.

 

“Davis texted me,” Kari said. “He told us to meet everyone else at the soccer ground.”

 

Tai nodded to let Kari know he had heard her.

 

“Heaven’s Charge!”

 

A bright light hit the ground near the agents. Dust and rubble flew into the air causing them to duck.

 

“What was that for?” Tai asked.

 

“It looked like they were about to shoot,” Angewomon answered.

 

Tai was almost certain they hadn’t been but he wasn’t about to argue with the angel.

 

* * *

 

 

As soon as they landed on the soccer field the digimon changed back to their rookie forms. Tai saw Matt call Joe over to check on Sora. She was holding her wrists and staring off into space, she looked like she was in shock.

 

Tai stayed outside as everyone hurried inside. He just needed some time to breathe. He was soon joined by Davis.

 

“Hey,” Davis said. “Are you guys OK? What happened?”

 

“Infected digimon,” Tai said. “Biyomon’s infected now too, she went off with SkullSatamon.”

 

“I hate that guy,” Davis said. “We’ll get Biyomon back, don’t worry.”

 

 _Always so confident_ , Tai thought.

 

“What’s going on in there?” Tai nodded to the clubrooms.

 

“Hiding from the authorities, we’re outlaws now.”

 

Tai raised an eyebrow at Davis.

 

“No seriously! Ken and the she demon hacked into the governments files! Izzy is monitoring their communication now so we can come up with a plan.”

 

Tai groaned. “This is all…” _too much._ “Tell me about your game.”

 

“You mean before we were almost arrested? We lost but I played really well! I scored two goals. Do you think Ken noticed?”

 

“Do you think he noticed his best friend score two goals against him? Yeah Davis I think he noticed.”

 

“Shut up you know what I meant!”

 

“Have you ever considered telling him how you feel instead of just trying to impress him with your amazing soccer skills?”

 

“He’s my best friend. I don’t want to risk anything.” They were silent for a moment.

 

“Tai?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

Davis hesitated before he removed his goggles from his head. “You should have these back, the leader of the digidestined just wouldn’t look right without goggles right?”

 

Tai recognised his own words and smiled at the memory. It seemed so long ago. “No Davis, you keep them.”

 

“But ...”

 

“Keep them Davis.”

 

“OK if you’re sure.” Davis said. “I’m going to go check on Ken, he was acting fine before but I think he feels guilty about forcing us all into hiding.”

 

Davis left Tai alone with his thoughts.

 

“Wow so I guess it really wasn’t a ‘the girl I like likes my blond rival’ club. Was it a ‘I secretly like my best friend’ club. Does that mean the rumours about you and Matt are true too?”

 

Tai jumped. “Mimi! How long have you been there?”

 

Mimi walked over to Tai. “Not long. Don’t worry no one else heard. So, Davis and Ken ha?”

 

“No,” Tai said. “Davis refuses to say anything to Ken. I’m the only one who knows, you can’t tell anyone.”

 

“I won’t. I think it’s nice. Those two bring out the best in each other, they’re kind of a perfect match.”

 

Tai swallowed nervously. He tried to think of something to say. Something that wasn’t stupid like you bring out the best in me, you make me want to be a better person. “Did you say there are rumours about me and Matt? I thought he was joking about that!”

 

“Afraid so,” Mimi said. “Everyone would be OK with it if they were true. Although I don’t think you and Matt would be as perfect as Ken and Davis. You two would be a train wreck.”

 

“Yeah, we’d kill each other.” Tai smiled, “are you OK?”

 

“I’m fine,” Mimi said. “I’m worried about Sora though, she still hasn’t said anything.”

 

“I should go and check on her.” Tai forced himself to finally enter the change rooms.

 

* * *

 

 

The club room roof was still damaged where Greymon had accidently hit it. Tai tried his best to ignore it as he made his way to where Sora was sitting with Matt and Joe on a bench.

 

“Hey Sora,” he sat down on the ground in front of her and smiled. Sora didn’t respond. Tai wondered if she even realised he was there.

 

“Is she OK?” he asked Joe.

 

“Her hands are both sprained from her fall,” Joe said. “Lucky the soccer club has a first aide kit, I’ve fixed them the best I can for now. I’m more worried about her mental state though, I think she may be in mental shock.”

 

“Is there anything we can do for that?” Tai asked.

 

“Besides rescue Biyomon?” Joe said. “No, when all this is over if she’s not better she might need to see someone but for now all we can do is be here for her.”

 

Tai reached up and held Sora’s hand. “Everything is going to be OK Sora, promise.”

 

“Hey guys,” TK appeared behind Tai. “Izzy’s ready for everyone now, he has some information.”

 

* * *

 

 

Everyone had gathered around Izzy and his laptop. It felt just like the old days, well if you ignored the fact that they were hiding from a government agency.

 

“From the information we gathered from their files we know they are called the Digital Threat and Management Agency or DTMA,” Izzy said. “They are a pretty small agency and they are led by Shuu Tamura. That is good and bad news for us.”

 

“Tell us the bad part first,” Matt said.

 

“It’s about Tamura.” Izzy said. “He had a file on Cherrymon it said he was an ally. I think that’s where he’s been getting his information.”

 

Tai and Matt exchanged a dark look. “So you think Tamura’s being manipulated by Cherrymon?” Matt asked. “That explains why he refused to listen to you before,” he said to Tai.

 

“Yeah, I swear that tree has it out for me,” Tai said. “Hey Izzy can you email me Tamura’a file?”

 

“Sure.”

 

“What about the good news?” Davis asked.

 

“Well from their communication they haven’t asked any other law enforcement agencies for help tracking us down and they are all busy with the infected digimon attacks so as long as we stay out of their way we should be ok,” Izzy said.

 

“Not that I’m not happy about that but why haven’t they asked for help?” TK asked.

 

“People still remember us from last time,” Cody said. “It wouldn’t look good for them to drag the DigiDestined in for questioning in the middle of a digimon attack, especially with no evidence we’ve actually done anything wrong.”

 

“Wow Cody,” Joe said. “Have you ever thought about a career in law?”

 

“I’m so sorry guys, this is my fault,” Yolie said, her eyes fixed to the floor.

 

Kari put her arm around Yolie and gave her a smile. “It’s not your fault,” she said.

 

“Kari’s right,” Tai said. “I pissed them off today too. I think they wanted to bring us in after the battle anyway, and that was before tall, blonde, and crazy attacked them.”

 

Gatomon didn’t look chastised, if anything Tai thought she looked smug.

 

“You attacked the government people!” Davis cried. “That’s awesome!”

 

Tai glared at Davis. “I mean umm bad kitty?”

 

“Guys!” Izzy said. He was watching something on the computer screen. “They’ve reported more attacks. SkullSatamon is attacking down town and there are three groups of infected digimon attacking around the city.” He hesitated. “Birdramon is with one of the groups.”

 

Sora’s head snapped towards Izzy but she didn’t say anything.

 

“We need to go!” Davis jumped up.

 

“But ...” Ken hesitated. He looked guilty. “I haven’t been able to find a cure for the infection yet.”

 

“What about Gennai?” Matt asked. “Izzy did you email him about a cure.”

 

“Yes, he didn’t reply.”

 

“I’ve been thinking,” Mimi said. “Remember DarkTyrannomon? He was infected with a virus and Lillymon cured him. Maybe she can do the same to Birdramon?”

 

Tai smiled. “It’s worth a try. OK here’s the plan, Davis and Ken, you guys defeated SkullSatamon last time right?”

 

They nodded.

 

“OK good, you two can handle that. Matt and I will take care of one of the infected groups. Kari, TK, Yolie and Cody will take the other. Izzy and Mimi will go after Birdramon’s group and try and cure her. Joe, do you mind staying here and looking after Sora?”

 

“No.” It wasn’t Joe who answered but Sora

 

“Sora …” Matt started to say something but was cut off.

 

“No,” Sora repeated. “You’re not going after B without me!”

 

Tai looked at Joe for support but he just shrugged. “Ok fine,” Tai said. “Sora and Joe will go with Izzy and Mimi to cure Birdramon. “Is that plan OK with everyone?”

 

Everyone nodded. “Good let’s go kick some butt!”

 

* * *

 

 

“Are you OK? You’ve got that look on your face,” Mimi said. They were all getting ready to leave.

 

“What look?” Tai asked.

 

“That look you get before you do something reckless,” she answered.

 

Tai smiled. “I was just thinking,” he said. “You don’t have to do this you know.”

 

“Yes I do,” Mimi said. “I want to. It’s the only way to help Biyomon and you know it. Besides I’ve been trying to be more courageous latterly.”

 

Tai remembered Mimi’s earlier words, _they bring out the best in each other, they are kind of the perfect match_.

 

Tai felt like his heart stopped for a moment. Mimi was standing so close to him. She gently rested her hand on his arm. “Stay safe Tai,”

 

“You too Princess.”

 

Mimi went to stand with her group.

 

“Remember to try and avoid the DTMA agents,” Izzy told everyone before he left with Mimi, Sora and Joe.

 

Davis and Ken waved as they climbed on Imperialdramon and flew off.

 

“Wow,” Matt said. “They’re not messing around. Do you think we should form Omegamon?”

 

“Umm not yet,” Tai said. “Hey Kari! TK! Wait a second!” he called.

 

Tai ran over to their group with Matt trailing behind.

 

“So I was thinking,” Tai said. “I’m sure Kari and TK can handle things by themselves. Yolie and Cody how about you go with Matt.”

 

No one answered for a moment.

 

“You mean with Matt and you?” Cody asked.

 

“Actually, I was thinking and there’s something else I need to do.”

 

Matt sighed heavily. “Why do I feel like you’re about to do something unbelievably stupid?” he asked.

 

Tai grinned. “Because you know me too well.”

 


	8. Lillymon's Cure- Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Izzy leads a group to battle infected digimon and to see if Lillymon can cure Birdramon. Tai has an important meeting.

**Izzy**

 

“So there are infected digimon attacking a subway station?” Joe asked.

 

“Yes.”

 

“And we’re taking the subway there? Am I the only one who has a problem with this plan?” Joe said.

 

“I’m sure they’ve closed the station down,” Izzy said. “We’ll go as far as we can and then MegaKabuterimon can fly us.”

 

Before Joe could argue their train appeared and they got on. Joe and Sora found a seat together leaving Izzy to find a seat with Mimi.

 

Izzy noticed Joe was watching Sora with concern.  She hadn’t said anything since they left the soccer grounds but her face was full of determination.

 

“Do you think she’ll be OK,” Mimi asked.

 

“She will be if this works,” he said. “We don’t have a plan B here.”

 

“Don’t worry,” Palmon said from Mimi lap. “I can do this.”

 

Mimi gave Palmon a quick hug.

 

Izzy smiled at their easy affection.

 

“So you and Tai seemed pretty close before,” he said. He hoped the disappointment didn’t show in his voice. He’d had a small crush on Mimi since she’d been back but he also wanted her to be happy.

 

“Yeah I guess,” Mimi was blushing. “What about you and Yolie? You two worked well together.”

 

“What? No! I mean yes we worked well together but no.” Izzy could tell he was rambling, he felt Tentomon laughing against his side.

 

“Hey Izzy?” Mimi said after a short silence. “Is bringing Sora a bad idea? Biyomon managed to digivolve into Birdramon without her. What if she digivolves again when Sora gets there?”

 

The thought had occurred to Izzy too. “Hopefully she doesn’t but if she does there’s three of us, it shouldn’t be too hard.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

Izzy regretted his words as they flew closer to the fight. After seeing the panic and destruction on the ground he was glad to be in the air on MegaKabuterimon.

 

Izzy saw Sora tense as the infected digimon came into view. There were two infected digimon as well as Birdramon. They were attacking the area outside the subway stop. Thankfully it looked like the police had cleared the immediate area so the destruction was limited to buildings. Izzy couldn’t see any DTMA agents, he hoped they’d gotten luck and the agents were all busy with the other attacks.

 

“Izzy, who are the other two digimon?” Joe asked.

 

Izzy opened the digimon analyser on his laptop. “Witchmon and Sunflowermon,” he answered. The two digimon actually looked like a witch and a sunflower. “They are both champion level. If you guys digivolve to ultimate we shouldn’t have much trouble defeating them or at least holding them off until we see if the cure works. MegaKabuterimon land and let everyone off.”

 

MegaKabuterimon landed and everyone jumped off. Palmon and Gomamon digivolved to Lillymon and Zudomon.

 

“MegaKabuterimon you can fight Witchmon,” Izzy told the group. “Zudomon you take Sunflowermon but if you can try not to kill her until we know if Lillymon can help. Lillymon you try to help Birdramon.”

 

Zudomon hurried off with Joe following.

 

“Are you going to come with me Izzy?” MegaKabuterimon asked.

 

“Umm,” Izzy said. “I think I should stay with the others so I know if the cure works.” He patted MegaKabuterimon’s giant wing. “Stay safe.”

 

“I will.” MegaKabuterimon flew into the air after Witchmon.

 

“OK,” Mimi said. “Are you ready Lillymon?” Lillymon looked nervous but she nodded and flew towards Birdramon.”

 

Izzy, Sora and Mimi followed, running to keep up.

 

“Meteor Wing!” Birdramon attacked Lillymon. Lillymon was too quick and darted out of the way.

 

“Birdramon! Stop please!” Sora cried. “She’s trying to help you!”

 

Birdramon turned to look at Sora and for a moment Izzy thought he saw recognition in Birdramon’s eyes.

 

“Baluluna Gale!”

 

Lillymon and Birdramon were both hit by a strong gust of wind coming from Witchmon.

 

“Sorry,” MegaKabuterimon said. “She got away from me for a second!” He chased after Witchmon still not attacking.

 

Lillymon recovered faster than Birdramon. She was almost too quick to see as she darted around Birdramon forming a necklace of flowers around Birdramon’s neck.”

 

“Did it work?” Mimi asked.

 

Izzy was about to say he wasn’t sure but just then Birdramon started glowing and she fell from the sky.

 

“B!” Sora sprinted in her direction with Izzy and Mimi following.

 

Izzy and Mimi arrived to find Sora cuddling Biyomon with a huge smile on her face. Biyomon looked like she was back to normal.

 

“I think it worked Lillymon,” Izzy said. “Can you go help Witchmon and Sunflowermon?” Lillymon smiled brightly before she left.

 

“Is B really going to be OK Izzy?” Sora asked.

 

Izzy looked at Biyomon who was now sleeping. “I think so,” he said. “She’s probably just exhausted.”

 

Sora continued to hug Biyomon. Soon Lillymon appeared with Joe, MegaKabuterimon, Zudomon, Witchmon and Sunflowermon following her. Witchmon and Sunflowermon were no longer showing any signs of infection. MegaKabuterimon and Zudomon turned back into their rookie forms.

 

“Hey Tentomon,” Izzy gave his partner a pat on the head, “you did a real good job buddy.”

 

Tentomon smiled proudly.

 

“I don’t understand,” Sunflowermon said. “Why would I do this?”

 

“It’s not your fault, you were sick,” Mimi answered.

 

Izzy looked around. He thought he saw a small grey shape disappear down the subway station steps.

 

“Hey guys wait here for a moment, I want to check something out.”

 

* * *

 

 

It felt strange to be the only person in a subway station. Tentomon was following behind him quietly. Izzy had to stop to give his eyes time to adjust to the dark.

 

“Wondering off alone just to satisfy your curiosity Izzy? You haven’t changed have you?”

 

Izzy and Tentomon jumped at the sudden voice.

 

“I know that voice,” Tentomon said.

 

“Hello Tentomon,”

 

“Vademon,” Izzy finally recognised the voice.

 

“You remember me. I’m flattered, it’s been so long,” Vademon said as he emerged from around a corner.

 

“You tried to steal my curiosity,” Izzy said. “Also you were the first digimon MegaKabuterimon ever defeated.”

 

“I’m glad to have played such an important role in your life,” Vadem on said.

 

“What are you doing here?” Tentomon asked.

 

Vademon looked at Tentomon. “You can relax, I’m not here to fight. I only came to see if you could cure the infection. Good job on that by the way.”

 

“What do you know about the infection?” Izzy asked.

 

“Everything. I created it after all.” Vademon said.

 

“You … you created the infection? Why?” Izzy asked.

 

“Because I was paid,” Vademon answered. “Three digimon: MarineDevimon, LadyDevimon, and SkullSatamon asked me to create it for them. Just curing the infected digimon won’t do you any good, you need to make sure you defeat all three of them.”

 

“And you’re telling us this out of the goodness of your heart?” Tentomon asked doubtfully.

 

“No,” Vademon said. “I learnt the infection was part of a plan to bring Daemon back to our world. They planned to use the infection to cause a war between our worlds to keep you distracted. I don’t want Daemon to return.”

 

Izzy had to admit the way things were going they might just get their war. “What about Cherrymon?” Izzy asked. “Was he with them?”

 

“I don’t know who else they have working for them.” Vademon admitted. “There is one more thing though. They had me create something else, an ultimate form of distraction.”

 

That didn’t sound good. “What did they have you create?” Izzy asked.

 

“A BlackWargreymon.”

 

“What!” Izzy and Tentomon exchanged worried looks. That was really not good.

 

“Anyway. It’s been fun catching up but I really must be going.”

 

“No wait!” Izzy cried but Vademon was already gone.

 

* * *

 

 

Izzy was surpised to see a lot of the damage had been repaired when he emerged from the subway station.

 

“What happened?” he asked, looking around in shock.

 

“It was Witchmon,” Mimi said. “She was amazing, she cast a spell and everything just started rebuilding itself!”

 

“That’s great! Biyomon you’re awake!”

 

Biyomon was tucked into Sora’s arms. Izzy didn’t think she’d be letting go anytime soon.

 

“I’m sorry for everything I did.” Biyomon looked miserable.

 

“I already told you it wasn’t your fault B.” Sora tightened her arms around Biyomon.

 

Izzy smiled at the pair. He hadn’t wanted to admit it earlier but he’d been terrified of what they might have had to do if the cure hadn’t worked. _Speaking of_.

 

“Guys we need to go,” he said. “I’ll explain everything later but it’s really important we stop SkullSatamon and the infected digimon. Mimi and Sora you guys meet up with TK and Kari’s group, see if Lillymon can help, then find Matt and Tai. Joe, we’ll go help Ken and Davis with SkullSatamon.”

 

“OK,” Palmon digivolved to Lillymon again, “hold on tight girls, I can carry you both.”

 

“Watch out for LadyDevimon and BlackWargreymon,” Izzy warned. “They might be out there somewhere. If you see them it’s really important you stop them.”

 

“LadyDevimon? BlackWargreymon? Izzy what?” Mimi asked.

 

“I’ll explain later OK. Tentomon, think you can digivolve again?”

 

Tentomon nodded and digivolved to MegaKabuterimon. Izzy, Joe, and Gomamon climbed on.

 

“Wait!” Witchmon cried. “Let me come with you. I want to help.”

 

“Me too!” Sunflowermon said.

 

Izzy looked at the two digimon. Witchmon’s face was impossible to read, Sunflowermon looked scared but determined.

 

“You can come with us,” Mimi said.

 

Witchmon helped Sunflowermon climb onto her broomstick and they flew into the air. Lillymon soon joined them. Mimi gave the boys one last wave before they were out of sight.

 

“OK MegaKabuterimon, let’s go!”

 

They held on tight as MegaKabuterimon took off. When they were safely in the air Izzy pulled out his laptop and sent everyone an email filling them in on what had happened and letting them know to look out for LadyDevimon and BlackWargreymon.

* * *

**Tai**

“Are you sure this is a good idea Tai?” Agumon asked. They were standing outside a large government building.

 

Tai looked at the business card in his hand. “No, it’s probably a really bad idea. You still want to come with me?”

 

“Of course Tai!”

 

Tai could feel his heart beating quickly as they entered the building. He was use to fighting monsters, this fight was something else entirely. Inside the building people in smart suits were hurrying around the office looking very stressed. Tai felt very out of place, he tightened his grip on Agumon.

 

“Excuse me,” Tai approached the reception desk. “I was wondering if Shuu Tamura was available?”

 

The receptionist didn’t look up. “Just a minute,” she said. She glanced up and almost jumped out of her skin when she saw Agumon. “That’s a … You’re one of those kids!” she said.

 

Tai wasn’t sure what to say. He tried to stay polite. “Yeah, My name’s Tai. Is Shuu Tamura available? I don’t have an appointment or anything but I think he wants to see me anyway.”

 

The receptionist picked up her phone and made a call. Tai couldn’t hear what she was saying. She didn’t take her eyes off Agumon.

 

“Come this way,” she said as she hung up the phone.

 

The receptionist led him to small, plain room with a single desk in the middle. Agent Tamura was sitting on one side and there was a spare chair on the other. Tai felt sick, he really wished he’d asked Matt to come with him.

 

“Is this an interrogation room?” Tai asked as the door shut. “It’s not as dark as I imagined.” Tai looked at the desk, “and there’s no handcuff thingys.”

 

Shuu’s jaw clenched. “This is my office.”

 

 _Great start Tai._ “Oh, it’s umm nice,” Tai said.

 

“Sit down Mr Yagami.”

 

Tai quickly sat down, pulling Agumon down onto his lap. He felt like he had been called to the Principal’s office only this was so much worse.

 

“I was surprised when I heard you were here, especially after that stunt you pulled earlier today.”

 

Tai wanted to argue that he’d done nothing wrong and that it was Tamura’s fault for ordering his agents to fire on SkullSatamon and for getting Angemon hurt but that wouldn’t help the situation.

 

“I’m sorry,” Tai said. “My friends were hurt and I was upset, but I still want us to be able to work together.”

 

“Work together?” Shuu said. “Your friends hacked into our files! Your sister’s digimon attacked my agents.”

 

“If she was really attacking them they’d be dead.” Tai snapped. _Oh, wrong thing to say_. “I mean she wasn’t trying to hurt anyone.”

 

There was a short pause. “I read your file you know. Izzy emailed it to me” Tai said.

Shuu raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything. “You were a high-ranking government agent before Myotismon attacked our world. You quit because you felt your superiours weren’t taking the threat of digimon seriously. You started this agency because you wanted to help people.”

 

“Of course I wanted to help people,” Shuu said. “That’s why I’ve been telling you and your friends to stay out of the way.”

 

“Is it?” Tai asked. “Or is it because Cherrymon told you to?”

 

“You know Cherrymon?”

 

“I know you have files on all of the digidestined, so you know Matt and I are best friends right?” Tai said. “We know and understand each other so well that we can DNA digivolve together. He’s family to me.”

 

“I don’t see what that has to do with…”

 

“Did you know Matt tried to kill me when we were younger?” Tai interrupted the agent.

 

That seemed to through Shuu. “What?”

 

“Matt tried to kill me because Cherrymon told him to.” Tai explained. “That’s what Cherrymon does, he manipulates people.”

 

Tai’s phone vibrated. He glanced at it and saw he had an email from Izzy.

 

“Yes, well, that’s very interesting information Yagami,” Shuu said. “But as I’m sure you’re aware there are infected digimon attacking all over the city. You’re going to stay here while I go help my agents.”

 

“Wait!” Tai cried.

 

Tai quickly read the email from Izzy. It felt like a weight was lifted off his chest knowing Biyomon was going to be OK the rest of the news wasn’t so good.

 

“I just got an email from my team.” Tai said. “They’ve worked out a way to cure the infected digimon.”

 

“They have?” Agumon looked up hopefully.

 

“Yeah buddy, Biyomon’s going to be just fine.” He gave Agumon a small smile before turning his attention back to Tamura.

 

“If you leave now Agumon and I are going to go help our friends, you’ve seen WarGreymon, you know you won’t be able to stop us. Then, when the infection is cured we’re going to go home and your agency can have an interesting discussion about the merits of arresting the kids who just saved the city for a tiny bit of computer hacking.” Tai paused. “That’s not what I want.”

 

Tamura’s face was impossible to read. “What is it you want Yagami?”

 

“My sister told me about a dream she had once of humans and digimon living together in harmony. I want that too. I figure the first step is getting the government on board. If you let me come with you we can work together and I can show you all the good digimon are capable of. Please, Cherrymon isn’t someone you can trust, give my friends and I a chance.”

 

Shuu paused considering. Then he nodded. “OK, let’s try it your way.

 

 


	9. Lillymon's Cure- Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Izzy and Joe go to help Ken and Davis. Tai finds Matt.

**Izzy**

Izzy could tell something was wrong. They had just arrived at the location SkullSatamon was attacking. Izzy jumped down from MegaKabuterimon’s back. He could see Imperialdramon and Ken. Ken looked terrified. There was no sign of Davis or SkullSatamon. Izzy motioned to Joe and they both crouched down hiding behind a corner.

 

“Somethings wrong,” Izzy said.

 

A sudden cold laugh startled them. Izzy peered around the corner finally spotting SkullSatamon floating in the air. His stomach dropped as he saw SkullSatamon was holding onto Davis’s arm threatening to drop Davis to the ground.

 

“Please,” Izzy heard Ken say, “just let him go.”

 

“That seems like a rather poor choice of words,” SkullSatamon said. He loosened his grip on Davis’s arm causing him to slip before he tightened his hand again.

 

“We have to do something,” Izzy whispered. “Gomamon can you digivolve? Quietly, so he doesn’t hear you.” Gomamon nodded and silently digivolved to Ikkakumon.

 

SkullSatamon hadn’t heard them. Izzy saw Ken’s eyes dart in their direction and he knew Ken had spotted them. _Keep him distracted_ Izzy silently begged.

 

“You know your digimon could easily defeat me.” Skullsatamon was saying. “But you’re too scared to attack because you might hurt one pathetic human. I expect that from the other digidestined but not from you Ken.”

 

“Please, don’t hurt him,” Ken said.

 

“Pathetic, that dark spore clearly didn’t do it’s job did it?” SkullSatamon said. He paused. “Or maybe it did. Maybe it’s only _this_ human you care about. I wonder … would you let me go in exchange for his life? Knowing I would hurt more people if you do?”

 

Ken hesitated. “Yes, please just don’t hurt Davis.”

 

“Ken no!” Davis yelled.

 

“OK guys,” Izzy whispered. “Ikkakumon when I say, fire your Harpoon Torpedo at SkullSatamon. MegaKabuterimon get ready to catch Davis, you’ll need to be quick.” Ikkakumon and MegaKabuterimon nodded. Izzy and Joe shared a nervous look.

 

SkullSatamon laughed. “Maybe there’s still hope for you Ken. OK I’ll put your boy down as soon as I see two rookie digimon infront of me.”

 

“Imperialdramon no!” Davis yelled.

 

“Guys do it, trust me,” Ken said.

 

Imperialdramon appeared to be flighting a battle within himself before he split in two and two worried rookie level digimon appeared in his place.

 

“Davish!” Veemon yelled.

 

“Very good,” SkullSatamon said. “Unfortunately I don’t think I can keep my promise. This human is holding you back Ken, think of all you had before he ruined it. It doesn’t matter if the dark spore is gone, once this human is gone you’ll be able to get back everything you lost.”

 

Izzy saw SkullSatamon loosen his grip. “Now!”

 

 MegaKabuterimon dashed out from their hiding spot, flying at Davis.

 

“Harpoon Torpedo!”

 

Ikkakumon’s attack hit SkullSatamon in the back causing him to drop Davis.

 

“Davis!”

 

Davis landed on MegaKabuterimon’s back. “When did you guys get here?” he asked.

 

MegaKabuterimon swooped around and landed next Ken. As soon as Davis jumped to the ground Ken sprinted towards him and threw his arms around Davis’s neck.

 

“I’m fine Ken,” Davis said in a soft voice.

 

“Harpoon Torpedo!”

 

Ikkakumon attacked again. His attack hit SkullSatamon but it wasn’t enough to seriously hurt him.

 

Izzy signalled to Joe and the two of them sprinted towards Ken and Davis.

 

“We have to finish him,” Izzy said thinking of Vademon’s vague warning.

 

“Electro Shocker!” MegaKabuterimon fired at SkullSatamon. Furious electricity shot from MegaKabuterimon hitting SkullSatamon and causing him to explode in a cloud of data.

 

Izzy breathed a sigh of relief as MegaKabuterimon and Ikkakumon changed back into Tentomon and Gomamon.

 

“Are you OK? Let me see your arm,” Izzy heard Joe say to Davis.

 

“You’re going to have a hell of a bruise tomorrow but it look’s OK.” Joe said.

 

Tentomon looked up at Izzy. “What now Izzy?” he asked.

 

“We need to contact the others,” Izzy said. “They might still need help.”

 

“Looks like we’re about to find out,” Gomamon said.

 

Izzy followed Gomamon’s line of sight until he saw Mimi, Sora, TK, and Kari, along with their partners, and, Witchmon and Sunflowermon.

 

“Hey are you guys OK?” Joe asked.

 

“Yeah,” TK answered. “Lillymon showed up just in time to cure the infected digimon, they’re back in the Digital World now.”

 

“We were held up on the way there,” Kari said. “LadyDevimon.”

 

“What?” Izzy said. “Did you stop her?”

 

“No, sorry Izzy,” Kari said. “She got away.”

 

“She took me by surprise,” Gatomon said angrily. “Next time I see her I will tear that stupid white hair right off her head.”

 

“Woah, she’s pretty when she’s mad don’t you think?” Veemon said to Wormmon seemingly unaware they could all hear him. Gatomon only glared at Veemon. Izzy saw Davis nudge Veemon with his foot.

 

“It’s OK,” Izzy said. “We’ll get her next time.” He looked around the group. “Where are Yolie and Cody?”

 

“They went with Matt. Tai said he had something else to do,” TK said.

 

Izzy noticed neither Sora or Mimi looked too pleased by that information.

 

Witchmon stepped forward. The group was still as they watched her silently preform a spell which fixed the damage from the fight.

 

“That was awesome!” Davis exclaimed.

 

“Izzy? Didn’t you say something about a BlackWargreymon before?” Sora asked. “If he’s out there we need to find Tai and Matt.”

 

“Right,” Izzy agreed. He looked at TK and Kari, “have either of you heard from them?”

 

“No.”

 

“OK so we have no idea where Tai is,” Izzy confirmed, “but we know where Matt was heading. We’ll start there.”

 

 

* * *

 

**Tai**

 

Tai was sitting in agent Tamura’s car heading towards the river where Matt was. He was re-reading the email from Izzy. This time he focused on the part about LadyDevimon and BlackWargreymon. He hoped they wouldn’t run into either of them but he doubted they’d get so lucky.

 

Tai glanced to his side at agent Tamura who was driving. He knew they’d have to be real careful with how they handled things in front of the agent. If things went well Kari’s dream of peace between humans and digimon might be possible one day. If things went badly it could lead to a war.

 

Tai’s phone buzzed with a message. It was from Kari. _Where are you? I tried to call. Please let me know you’re OK._

Tai was about to reply when a second message came through. TK. _Hey Tai, we tried to call earlier. Are you with Matt? We can’t get a hold of him either._

Tai sent a quick reply to Kari. _Hey sis, I’m fine. I’m with agent Tamura, tell TK we’re on our way to Matt now._

 

Tai’s phone buzzed again, this time it was Sora. _What were you thinking going off alone! Why are you with agent Tamura?_

 

_Hey Sora. I’m glad Biyomon’s OK. Don’t worry about me I’m fine. I’m on my way to Matt now._

_Thank you. We’re on our way too._

_Good. Is Lillymon with you? I want Tamura to see her heal the infected digimon._

_Yeah. Mimi say’s hi. She was worried about you._

 

Tai smiled and put his phone away.

 

“The others are on their way too,” Tai told Shuu.

 

Shuu nodded but didn’t say anything.

 

They were approaching the river when Tai was suddenly slammed forward as the earth gave away under the car.

 

“What the hell?” Shuu jumped out of the car.

 

Tai quickly checked Agumon was OK and then they jumped out of the car together.

 

“Sorry guys!” Digmon said as he appeared from underground. “That was meant for one of the infected digimon.”

 

Tai looked to make sure agent Tamura was still with him. “Where are the others?” he asked Digmon.

 

Digmon lifted a hand and pointed further up the road. Tai could see Yolie and Cody hiding behind an upturned park bench. Shurimon landed behind them.

 

“OK,” Tai said. “Follow me.” He ran towards Yolie and Cody. He could hear Tamura, Agumon and Digmon behind him.

 

“Hey,” Tai said as he crouched down behind the bench. “Where’s Matt?”

 

Yolie pointed to her right. “He told us to stay here and handle the infected digimon while he dealt with _that_.”

 

Tai looked where she was pointing. He could see MetalGarurumon and, his heart stopped, BlackWargreymon.

 

“OK, stay here. Lillymon’s on her way to cure the infection so just try and hold them off.” Tai looked around and saw people were still fleeing the area. “Our priority needs to be making sure no one is hurt. If you have to stop the digimon to make sure that happens then do it.”

 

“Yagami! Where are you going?” Shuu said.

 

“I need to go help Matt, you stay here.” Tai said. “Agumon time to warp digivolve.”

 

Before anyone could argue Tai sprinted off. Matt soon came into view, Tai ran to stand beside him.

 

“Hey.”

 

Matt turned and breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank God you’re here. MetalGarurumon’s been doing a good job but they’re too evenly matched.”

 

They both looked to the sky where MetalGarurumon and BlackWargreymon were facing off.

 

BlackWargreymon launched at MetalGarurumon, spinning like a tornado. MetalGarurumon was only just quick enough to dodge out of the way.

 

“Ice Wolf Claw!”

 

MetalGarurumon’s attack hit BlackWargreymon. It seemed to temporarily stun him but didn’t cause any major damage.

 

“This kind of feels familiar right?” Tai joked.

 

“So not the time Tai.” Matt responded.

 

A ball of energy appeared between BlackWargreymon’s hands and quickly started growing bigger.

 

“Terra Force!”

 

“Terra Force!”

 

Tai recognised the second voice as his Wargreymon. He just had enough time to see MetalGarurumon dart out of the way before the two energy balls hit each other. Tai was thrown to ground as a gush of scorching heat hit him from above. He instinctively threw an arm out over Matt trying to protect him.

 

“Tai! Matt!”

 

Tai and Matt got to their feet and turned to see the rest of their group had arrived. Tai looked for Kari making sure she was OK, after seeing she was Tai looked at the infected digimon. They seemed dazed and confused but weren’t attacking. Lillymon’s cure must have worked.

 

Tai saw agent Tamura watching a digimon who looked like a witch cast a spell which caused the damaged street to start repairing itself.

 

Wargreymon and BlackWargreymon were trading blows in the sky.

 

“Metal Wolf Claw!”

 

MetalGarurumon attacked from the side freezing BlackWargreymon’s body. Wargreymon reacted quickly throwing BlackWargreymon to the ground. MetalGarurumon pounced, pinning BlackWargreymon down. Tai could see his missiles ready to fire.

 

“No! Wait stop!” he called out and ran forward.

 

“Tai! What are you doing?” Matt was following him.

 

“I just want to talk to him.”

 

MetalGarurumon hadn’t put his missles away so Tai felt pretty safe approaching.

 

“Umm hello,” he said. “I’m Tai, this is Matt.”

 

BlackWargreymon ignored him, he looked up at Wargreymon. “You are like me,” he said. “Why do you fight on the side of the humans?”

 

“They are our friends,” Wargreymon said.

 

“But their kind attack ours,” BlackWargreymon said. “We need to rise up and show we won’t stand for it.”

 

“Who told you that?” MetalGarurumon asked.

 

“The tree.”

 

“Cherrymon,” Matt said.

 

Tai noticed the rest of the team and agent Tamura had gathered behind them. “I know Cherrymon told you that we’re your enemies,” Tai said, “but that’s not true. My friends and I have always tried to protect the Digital World and digimon like you. Cherrymon … Cherrymon is a liar he is working with some bad digimon who wanted to use you.”

 

“That’s not true,” BlackWargreymon didn’t sound sure.

 

Shuu stepped forward. “My name’s Shuu Tamura. I work for the government, we were the ones fighting against the infected digimon. I thought we were doing the right thing but it turns out Cherrymon was manipulating me too. He used both of us to try and start a war.”

 

“We knew another BlackWargreymon once,” Tai said. “He was created by another digimon and then used to do bad things just like you but he still wanted to do the right thing. He died protecting people. I can tell you want to do the right thing, to protect other digimon too. We can help you, our friends can open a gate to send you to the Digital World, there are lots of digimon there that need protection.”

 

“I’ve never seen the Digital World before,” BlackWargreymon admitted. “They kept me hidden in this world until they needed me.”

 

“You will love it there,” Wargreymon said.

 

“We can show you around,” a digimon who looked like a flower said.

 

“I think I’d like that,” BlackWargreymon said.

 

MetalGarurumon climbed off of BlackWargreymon, allowing him to sit up. Out of the corner of his eye Tai saw the younger kids use their D3s to open a gate on Izzy’s laptop.

 

“I look forward to seeing you back in the Digital World,” WarGreymon said.

 

“You’re not coming?” BlackWargreymon asked.

 

“Not yet, I want to spend time with my friends while I can.”

 

BlackWargreymon nodded and he and the digimon who had been infected stepped through the gate.

 

Tai breathed a sigh of relief, they had actually pulled it off. He saw Matt move to hug Sora.

 

“Mr Yagami?” Shuu said. “I should go back to my office but you’re all free to go. I’ll be in contact. Thank you for what you did today.”

 

“Thank you, for what you said to BlackGreymon,” Tai said, “it really helped.”

 

Shuu nodded in response. He turned to leave, “Mr Ichijouji, Miss Inoue, I trust you won’t make a habit of breaking into government files.”

 

“No sir,” they both said.

 

Tai thought he saw a slight smile on Tamura’s face before he left.

 

“So that’s it? It’s over?” Joe asked. “We won?”

 

“For now,” Izzy said, “but LadyDevimon is still out there, she’s going to keep trying to free Daemon.”

 

“Wow Izzy slow down!” Matt said. “We’ll worry about her later. For now let’s just be happy we won.”

 

“Matt’s right,” Tai said. “It’s been a long day, let’s go home and get some rest.”

 

* * *

 

“Good morning,” Tai greeted Kari and Gatomon.

 

Gatomon looked him up and down. “It’s eleven o’clock,” she said.

 

“Last time I checked that was still morning,” Tai said fixing himself some breakfast. “Besides Agumon’s still asleep so at least I beat him out of bed.

 

Gatomon huffed.

 

“Come on! We had a big day yesterday!” Tai said. “You can’t talk anyway, you’re a cat! You’re always sleeping!”

 

“Do I have to separate you two?” Kari joked.

 

“Yes, put him out on the balcony!”

 

“Don’t worry I’m leaving as soon as Agumon wakes up.” Tai looked at his sister. “How did you sleep?”

 

“Good.”

 

“No dreams?”

 

“Not last night, but with LadyDevimon still out there it’s only a matter of time before they start again.”

 

“Hey, try not to worry about that now,” Tai said. “We’ve defeated her friends and stopped the infection, it’s going to take time for her to come up with a new plan.”

 

“Yeah and when she does I’ll use her as a scratching post.” Gatomon said

 

“Hey, you’ve used that one before!” Tai fake gasped. “Are you running out of cat puns?”

 

Gatomon hissed.

 

“Now look at you, hissing like a common house cat!”

 

Gatmon leapt across the table at Tai.

 

“Ow! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” Tai laughed.

 

Kari rolled her eyes at the two of them. “Seriously though Tai,” she said. “You did a real good job yesterday. The way you talked to agent Tamura and BlackWargreymon, if you hadn’t done that our two worlds might have been close to war today.”

 

Gatamon had settled down in Tai’s lap. He scratched her ears affectionately. “I did it because of you,” Tai admitted. “Because of the dream you had when you were under MaloMyotismon’s spell. When you first told me about it I thought it sounded unrealistic but I could never get it out of my head. I realised I wanted it too. I want to help you make your dream come true.”

 

Kari smiled brightly. “I love you Tai.”

 

“I love you too.”

 

“I’m hungry,” Agumon appeared in the doorway.

 

“Wow buddy, way to ruin the moment,” Tai said.

 

Agumon looked confused. “Ignore him Agumon,” Kari said. “Come sit down I’ll fix you something to eat.”

 

“Are there any of your mum’s left overs?” Agumon asked. “No offence but I like her cooking more.”

 

Kari’s mouth dropped open, her and Tai shared a look before Tai started laughing. “I don’t think anyone has ever said that before Agumon!”

 

Kari smiled. “Sit down Agumon, I’ll see what I can find.”

 

While Tai was waiting for Agumon to eat his breakfast he pulled out his phone and texted Sora. _Hey, are you OK? I was worried about you yesterday._

_Hi Tai. My wrists are sore but otherwise I’m fine. Biyomon’s feeling lot’s better. She’s excited about helping mum in the shop today._

 

Tai smiled. _That’s good. I’m going to visit Izzy now but maybe later Biyomon and I can give you and Agumon a rematch?_

_I’d like that. We’ll be in the shop all day, drop by whenever you’re ready._

* * *

Izzy’s mum opened the door when Tai knocked. “Hello Mrs Izumi, I was wondering if Izzy’s free.”

 

“Oh hello Tai. He’s in him room on the computer. He’s been working so hard. I’m glad you’re here, you might be able to get him to take a break.”

 

Tai knocked on Izzy’s open bedroom door. “Hey Izzy, hey Tentomon.”

 

Izzy jumped at the disturbance. “Oh hello Tai. I was just going through the government files again and trying to get in contact with Gennai.”

 

“Woah Izzy, you’ve got to take a break, your mum is worried about you.” Tai and Agumon took a seat on Izzy’s bed next to Tentomon. “Plus I’m pretty sure Tamura will tell us anything we want to know now.”

 

“I know. I just feel like I should be doing more,” Izzy said. “My knowledge and computer skills are what I bring to the team but it wasn’t me that got the files it was Yolie and Ken after I told them not to. I haven’t contributed at all.”

 

“That’s not true Izzy,” Tai argued. “You were right to tell them not to hack into the government, they were really lucky only to be given a warning. As for not contributing you were the one who got the information from Vademon and I heard that you were a real leader with your group yesterday. Maybe I need to get you a pair of goggles. You almost have the hair for it anyway.”

 

Izzy laughed. “I don’t think I can pull off the goggle look but thanks anyway.”

 

They were silent for a moment. “Tell me what Vademon said again,” Tai said.

 

“MarineDevimon, LadyDevimon, and SkullSatamon are working together to bring Daemon back from the dark ocean. Joe defeated MarineDevimon and MegaKabuterimon defeated SkullSatamon so only LadyDevimon is left.

 

“They had Vademon create the infection to cause friction between the two worlds as a distraction. Vademon doesn’t want Daemon back so he’s not on their side anymore which means we don’t have to worry about more infected digimon attacking.

 

“LadyDevimon has Cherrymon and possibly other digimon working for her.”

 

They were all quite for a moment as they processed the information. “That’s a good summery Izzy,” Tentomon said.

 

“Thanks Tentomon.”

 

“Yeah that summed it up rather well,” Tai said. “I meant what I said yesterday, I think we all need a rest, especially you Izzy. I’m going to play soccer with Sora later, you can come along if you want.”

 

“With Sora?” Izzy asked. “Do you like Sora again? I thought you might like Mimi now?”

 

Tai noticed Izzy had a strange look on his face, he recognised that look from his own face when Sora had first started dating Matt. _Izzy likes Mimi_ Tai realised.

 

“Oh, no, I’m just friends with Sora, Mimi too.” Tai said. “So how about it, want to come?”

 

“No soccer’s not really my thing,” Izzy said, “but I promise I’ll take a break from my work.”

 

“That’s all I can ask,” Tai said. “I better get going, see ya later!”

 

“Bye.”

 

Tai and Agumon stepped outside into the warm sun. “Are we going to play soccer now?” Agumon asked.

 

“Yeah buddy, let’s go play soccer.”

 

 


	10. Gekomon's Palace- Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Matt and Mimi both take advantage of the break between battles and use it to catch up with friends.

It was so cold. Kari was knee deep in freezing water, the chill spread quickly throughout her body making her entire body ache. It was too dark to see where she was but Kari knew. This place was becoming a part of her again. A bright pink light lit up the sky. Kari looked up and saw Angewomon in the sky. She was battling LadyDevimon.

 

LadyDevimon grimaced as the attack hit her. She was hurt. “You can’t win,” she said. “You can keep running but soon you’ll have no choice but to let my master return to your world.”

 

Kari jumped as a loud bang echoed around the beach. She looked to the shore to see Imperialdramon was here too. He had been thrown violently onto the ground. He was struggling to regain his feet. Behind Imperialdramon Kari could see Ken and Davis watching on with worry. Further back TK was standing next to herself. Kari’s other self looked up and the world seemed to stop as they made eye contact. Kari woke with a start.

 

* * *

 

 

**Matt**

“Do you know it takes the light from stars years to reach earth?” Matt said. “For some stars it takes thousands of years, so when we’re looking at them we’re seeing the star how it look thousands of years ago.” He paused. “I wish we could see the stars from here.”

 

It had been three weeks since the big battle with BlackWargreymon and everything had been quite. There had been no sign of LadyDevimon and no more infected digimon had appeared. Tai was sleeping over at his house tonight and they had brought their pillows up to the roof and were laying down looking at the night sky. Mrs Yagami had made an exception to her rule that Tai couldn’t stay over when Matt’s dad was away for work. Matt was grateful even if he didn’t understand why the rule was necessary.

 

“You’re so smart,” Tai slurred. “And pretty. You should be an astronaut!” Matt looked at the half empty bottle of alcohol they’d been sharing. Oh right, that’s why the rule was necessary.

 

“You and Gabumon could go to space together!” Tai continued.

 

“Gabumon doesn’t even like water, I don’t think he wants to go to space.”

 

“Yeah but there’s no water in space! You could escape the water!” Tai tilted his head in confusion. “Wait is there water in space?”

 

“Some of Jupiter’s moons have water under a layer of ice. One of Saturn’s moon has water on it’s surface.”

 

“Woah,” Tai looked at him in wonder causing Matt to crack up laughing.

 

“Are you laughing at me?” now Tai looked sad.

 

“No, I was laughing at how drunk you are.”

 

Tai frowned. “I haven’t had alcohol before! My parents don’t let me drink all the time!”

 

“Dad doesn’t let me drink all the time!” Matt defended. “He just lets me have wine with dinner every now and again.”

 

Tai grumbled something under his breath. Matt was pretty sure he didn’t want to know what he said. The alcohol was causing Tai’s moods to change rapidly. _So this is what it’s like being friends with me_ , Matt thought.

 

“I got the weirdest phone call today,” Matt said changing the topic.

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Yeah, Mimi called,” Matt said. Tai sat up interested. “She wants me to go over to her house tomorrow to teach her to cook. Apparently she’s invited some guy over for a date and wants to cook for him! Poor dude,” Matt laughed.

 

Tai frowned. “It’s not a date,” he grumbled.

 

“What?” Matt struggled to understand what Tai was saying, maybe the alcohol was affecting him too, “Wait! Are you the guy!” Matt giggled, “that’s hilarious!”

 

“It is not,” Tai said. “It’s not a date,” he repeated.

 

“Well she thinks it is,” Matt said. “Wow I can’t believe Mimi likes you!”

 

“Well it doesn’t matter,” Tai said looking away. “Nothing is going to happen.”

 

Matt may have been feeling a little tipsy but not enough that he missed the disappointed tone in Tai’s voice. “Do you _want_ something to happen?”

 

Tai frowned and didn’t answer but Matt knew him well enough to read his expression. Yeah Tai liked Mimi. _Wow_.

 

“Why Mimi? I know she’s hot but … Ow! Don’t hit me!”

 

“She’s pretty,” Tai agreed. “But she’s also kind,” he said with a dreamy look on his face. “She’s funny and sincere, she always says what she thinks. She looks at me like I’m special and she makes me feel special!”

 

Matt was struggling to keep a straight face. “So why can nothing happen?”

 

“Izzy.”

 

“Ha?” That was not the answer Matt had expected.

 

“Izzy likes Mimi too,” Tai said.

 

“Oh.” Well didn’t _that_ sound familiar. “Well if she likes you and you like her,” God this is awkward, “I think you should go for it.”

 

Tai was looking at him with big eyes. Matt was beginning to wonder if Tai was too drunk to even understand what he was saying. _Oh well_.

 

“It won’t make Izzy happy if you don’t, you’ll just keep yourself and Mimi from being happy,” Matt said. “Then he’ll probably get mad at you for upsetting her anyway.”

 

Tai continued to stare at him blankly then his eyes widened. “You mean like with you, me, and Sora?”

 

Matt smiled, he loved this idiot. “Yes, that’s what I meant.”

 

 “Wait,” Tai was slowly putting things together. “Is that why you broke up with Sora? Because of me?”

 

Tai looked close to tears. Matt normally would have found the way Tai’s emotions were yo-yoing everywhere frustrating but the alcohol had taken the edge off a bit.

 

“I saw you two drifting apart, I didn’t want to be the reason you two stopped being friends,” Matt admitted.

 

There was a sudden pain in Matt’s arm. “Ow! Stop hitting me! I know it was stupid,” Matt said.

 

“But you two are better now right?” Tai asked. “Have you asked her out again?”

 

“You mean since she said no?” Matt felt his cheeks flush at the memory.

 

“Since she said she was busy,” Tai corrected.

 

“No, I haven’t,” Matt said. “She’s got enough going on, you know with Biyomon.”

 

“Biyomon’s fine now,” Tai argued, “and Sora seems heaps better. “Maybe you should bring her here and tell her that thing about the stars, that was super romantic.”

 

Matt lifted his head so he could grab his pillow and use it to hit Tai.

 

“Ow! Stop! I almost spilt my drink!”

 

Matt snorted with laughter. “If you start shopping in your free time or wearing pink I’m going to divorce you.”

 

Tai grinned and pushed his face into Matt’s arm. “Na, you’re stuck with me forever.”

 

They lay in silence watching the sky for a moment. “Tell me about your new job,” Matt said.

 

Tai rolled his head up to look at Matt. “It’s not a job,” he said, “I just have to report what we’re doing to agent Tamura and he’ll give me any information they find.”

 

“It could be a job one day,” Matt said.

 

“Yeah, well it doesn’t matter, we’re all going to be dead soon anyway,” Tai said.

 

“I’m sorry, what?”

 

“LadyDevimon is going to come and kill us all.” Tai was pouting.

 

“OK you know what? I think you’ve had enough.” Matt took Tai’s glass off him. “Come on, let’s go inside and put you to bed.”

 

* * *

 

 

**Mimi**

“It’s so early!” Mimi complained leaning against a shelf she was supposed to be stacking in Yolie’s family’s shop.

 

“Hey if you want free food to practise cooking for your date with the hot soccer player you have to work for it,” Yolie said. She was flipping through a magazine at the counter.

 

“Jealous Yolie?” Mimi teased.

 

“Of you? Definitely not. No offence, Tai’s super good looking, but he reminds me too much of Davis.”

 

Mimi laughed. “Tai’s nice! So is Davis actually.”

 

“Sure.” Yolie went back to her magazine.

 

Mimi looked at the box she was unpacking and sighed. Hopefully the hard work would be worth it.

 

* * *

 

 

A short while later Mimi was unpacking boxes of hair dye when she came across a box of pastel green dye.

 

“Hey Yolie,” she said. “I like this, it could be your next colour!”

 

Yolie looked at the box. “It’s cute,” she said, “but I like my purple. Why don’t we put it in your hair?”

 

“I don’t know,” Mimi bit her lip. “I was going to keep my natural colour for a while.” She didn’t say why. She was worried people didn’t take her seriously, that they saw her as too girly and materialistic. Mimi knew she was pretty but she wanted people to see there was more to her than her looks.

 

“How about we just do the ends?” Yolie suggested. “It will be so cute and you’ll match Palmon!”

 

 _A bit of colour won’t hurt_ , Mimi thought. “OK,” she grinned. “Let’s give it a go!”

 

* * *

 

 

**Matt**

Tai had only just left when there was a knock on the door. Matt’s stomach heaved dangerously as he got up to open the door. _Never drinking again_ , he thought to himself. When Matt opened the door he was greeted by TK with Patamon sitting in his usual position on top of TK’s head. Matt might have been happy to see TK if he didn’t suspect their mum hadn’t sent TK over to check on him after she had heard their dad was away. His thoughts were confirmed by the container of food TK was holding _. Thanks for the vote of confidence Nancy, nice of you to visit yourself_.

 

“I brought food,” TK said. “Have you had breakfast yet?”

 

“Yeah … well I had coffee,” Matt said thinking he probably needed another one.

 

“That’s not enough, you need to look after yourself,” TK said. _Great now TK’s worried about me_ , Matt thought.

 

“He was sick last night,” Gabumon interjected.

 

“What?” Matt said sharply. “No I wasn’t!”

 

“Well no,” Gabumon admitted, “but Tai was and you were acting funny too so I thought you might have had whatever he had.”

 

Matt’s stomach lurched as his nausea came back. He felt guilty for worrying TK and Gaumon. “I’m fine,” he said going to the cupboard and collecting a snack bar. “Look breakfast!”

 

TK seemed satisfied. “So are you busy this morning?” he asked.

 

Matt thought about the extra reading he’d been planning to doing this morning, then he looked at his little brother. “No, I’m free. What do you want to do?”

 

* * *

 

 

Matt winced every time the basketball hit the ground, of course TK wanted to play basketball this morning. 

 

Matt was slouched down on a bench drinking a cup of take away coffee. “How’s school?” he asked his brother.

 

“Good,” TK said as he took a shot and scored. “I’m a writer for the school paper now.”

 

“Really?”

 

“Yeah, Kari’s the photographer and she asked me if I could join.”

 

“Anything for Kari,” Matt teased.

 

“Shut up,” TK chucked the ball at Matt who just managed to hit it away without spilling his coffee. “It wasn’t just for Kari. I like writing. I’ve been helping Mum with her articles, mostly just editing but she let me go with her to interview someone the other day. It was really interesting. I think I might like to do that when I finish school.”

 

“Journalism?”

 

“Yeah, or some kind of writing anyway,” TK said.

 

“I can’t believe you know what you want to do already,” Matt said. “I still have no idea.”

 

“I wouldn’t worry, you’ve still got plenty of time and you have really good grades so you can do almost anything.”

 

“I guess.”

 

“Mum and I are going out for lunch today,” TK said, “want to come?”

 

“As fun as _that_ sounds,” Matt said sarcastically, “I already have plans.”

 

* * *

 

 

Matt was in hell. He’d thought nothing could be worse than an awkward lunch with Nancy Takaishi but now standing in Mimi’s kitchen trying to teach her to cook he wondered if he’d been wrong.

 

“Does the music have to be so loud?” he asked.

 

“I like it, it makes me feel like I’m on a cooking show,” Mimi said. “Besides I didn’t think you’d have a problem with loud music.”

 

“I don’t, this isn’t exactly the kind of music I usually listen to though,” Matt said.

 

“Have you got something else on your phone?” You can change it if you want.”

 

“No, it’s OK,” Matt said remembering this was the girl Tai liked and Sora’s best friend. “It isn’t so bad.”

 

Mimi smiled. “Great! Hey I finished the chocolate mousse, want to taste?”

 

“Sure,” Matt tried a small spoonful and tried not to grimace.

 

“Did you follow the instructions Mimi?”

 

Mimi’s face fell. “Yes … Well mostly. My friend, the one I’m cooking for, he likes spicy food so I added some spices in.”

 

Matt bit his lip, trying not to laugh. “What spices?”

 

“Cayenne, chilli flakes and nutmeg.”

 

Matt couldn’t hold his laugh in anymore.

 

“Is it that bad?” Mimi asked.

 

“No sorry.” Matt said. “Well actually yes, it is but don’t worry about it. Tai’s mum cooks weird stuff all the time, he’s use to it. You’re right he’ll probably love it.”

 

Mimi blushed. “How did … Tai told you?”

 

“Yeah, he’s not exactly good at keeping secrets.”

 

“And … do you approve?” Mimi asked.

 

Matt laughed. “You do know you don’t need my permission to date Tai right?”

 

“But you’re his best friend! You’re opinion matters!”

 

“Fine! Yes I approve,” Matt said. “It surprised me when he first told me but now I think you two would be good together. He really likes you, I hope he doesn’t screw it up.” He said sincerely.

 

Mimi grinned and threw her arms around Matt’s shoulders. “Thank you Matt!”

 

Matt felt himself tense up and he awkwardly pushed Mimi’s arms away and took a step back. “That’s OK,” he said hoping he hadn’t seemed rude. “I like your hair by the way.”

 

Mimi grinned. “I was a little nervous so Yolie only dyed the ends, it’s not too much is it?”

 

“No, the green suits you.”

 

“Thanks Matt.”

 

Matt smiled, Mimi wasn’t so bad after all. “So you’re having spicy chocolate mousse for dessert, what about for the main?”

 

“I was thinking of making a melted chocolate and cheese pizza.”

 

Matt couldn’t help it, he laughed again. _God help you Tai._

 

* * *

 

 

Matt was in a pretty good mood when he got home. He decided to start catching up on his reading, he’d just opened his book when his phone buzzed with a message. _You’re home right?_ It was from Tai.

 

_Yes, why?_

_No reason ;)_

 

Matt frowned and kept reading. No doubt Tai was planning a ridiculous practical joke on him. Sure enough about half an hour later the doorbell rang. Matt got up to answer with a sigh.

 

“You’re not Tai.”

 

“Umm, no?” Sora was standing on the other side of the door looking confused. Biyomon was with her. “Is Tai coming too?” Sora asked.

 

Matt held the door open to invite Sora in. “I don’t think so, but I didn’t know you were coming either.”

 

“What? But you invited me over last night.”

 

“I did?”

 

“You sent me a text message.”

 

Matt looked at Sora blankly unsure of what to say. “Tai was playing with your phone after you fell asleep last night,” Gabumon said helpfully.

 

_Damn it Tai! What’s wrong with you!_

 

Sora looked embarrassed, “Oh, I can go.”

 

“No!” Matt felt himself blush. “I mean you can stay. If you want to. I’m not busy.”

 

Matt saw Gabumon and Biyomon exchange an amused look. He shot Gabumon a glare.

 

“I brought a movie,” Sora was saying, “If you’re interested.”

 

“Yeah, that sounds great, let me see if I can find some snacks in the kitchen.”

 

* * *

 

 

Matt was having trouble concentrating on the movie. He was sitting on the couch with Sora watching Gabumon and Biyomon chatting happily on the floor. He couldn’t help but remember the last time the two digimon had been together. They’d almost killed each other, it was nice to see they didn’t hold a grudge. Thinking of that day brought back other memories, like the ice cold fear he’d felt when he’d seen SkullSatamon almost drop Sora off that building. He was grateful SkullSatamon was gone now but he wished he’d been the one to do it himself.

 

“Are you OK?” Sora was watching him with a worried look on her face.

 

“Yeah,” Matt said. “I was just thinking about that day, with SkullSatamon. “I’m glad you’re OK, I was really worried.”

 

“I don’t think I got a chance to say thank you before,” Sora said. “For the way you took care of me that day. It was really nice.”

 

“You’re welcome.”

 

They sat in silence for a few moments until Sora groaned in frustration. “Is it always going to be this way between us?” she said. “It’s so …”

 

“Awkward?” Matt suggested.

 

“Yeah.”

 

“I hope not,” Matt said. He looked at her, remembering the fear of almost losing her. His heart was beating his mouth. _You can do this Ishida_ , he told himself. “Sora, I really care about you. Is there any part of you that maybe wants to give this another try?”

 

Sora was looking at him with wide eyes, God she was beautiful. “You mean you and I?”

 

Matt swallowed. “Yeah.”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Yes?”

 

“Of course I do Matt!” she was smiling brightly. Matt felt a matching grin make it’s way onto his own face.

 

“Really?”

 

Sora laughed and lent into his side. He lifted his arm and settled it around her shoulders. “Yes really. I missed you Matt.”

 

Matt gave her a kick kiss on the head ignoring the sniggers from Gabumon and Biyomon. “I missed you too.”

 

Sora looked up into his eyes and smiled. Matt’s heart started beating out of his chest as she lent in and their lips met for the first time in years.

 

Later that night Matt sent Tai a text message. _Thank you._

 


	11. Gekomon's Palace- Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A visitor brings Mimi some bad news.

**Mimi**

Mimi woke up with a heavy weight on her chest, assuming it was Palmon she screwed her eyes shut and tried to go back to sleep.

 

“Princess Mimi?” a male voice which definitely did not belong to Palmon asked.

 

Mimi’s eyes shot open and she bolted upright with a scream. The startled digimon scrambled off her and crashed into her dresser.

 

“Mimi?” Palmon came running into the room. “I heard voices … Gekomon?”

 

Mimi’s heart was beating out of her chest. She looked at the digimon picking itself up off her floor and calmed when she sure that Palmon was right, it was a Gekomon.

 

“Gekomon, what are you doing here?”

 

The Gekomon crawled its way back onto Mimi’s bed. “Princess Mimi,” he said. “Princess we need your help.”

 

Mimi and Palmon listened to Gekomon’s story.

 

“We need to call meeting,” Mimi said. She sighed. “And I was supposed to have a date today.”

 

* * *

 

 

Everyone had gathered at Tai’s house again. Mimi assumed it was a logical meeting place since Tai was their unofficial leader and it was the home of two DigiDestined. She noticed Tai had been avoiding her eye, she tried not to feel to disappointed, maybe he was just upset because they’d had to cancel their date.

 

Mimi grinned when saw Sora and Matt sitting together holding hands. She caught Sora’s eyes and gave her a wink. Sora rolled her eyes but Mimi could see she was smiling.

 

“Is everyone here?” Tai asked. Mimi looked around.

 

“I think so,” Izzy answered.

 

“OK,” Tai said. “Mimi, you had something to tell everyone?”

 

Mimi felt everyone’s eyes on her. She wasn’t normally shy but she felt a bit nervous about addressing the whole group. She looked at Tai and he gave her a comforting smile, she smiled back. Right she could do this.

 

“Hey everyone,” she said. “I had a visitor this morning.”

 

The nervous Gekomon pocked his head out from her bag where he’d been hiding. “Hello friends of Princess Mimi.”

 

Joe groaned and Tai looked uncomfortable, maybe he was regretting that nickname now.

 

“Hi Gekomon,” Yolie said.

 

“What’s wrong Gekomon?” Kari asked.

 

The Gekomon looked up at Mimi with wide eyes. “It’s OK,” she said. “Just tell them what you told me.”

 

“The Digital World needs help,” Gekomon said. “LadyDevimon and her minions have been capturing digimon and convincing them to join her side, those they can’t convince they kill.”

 

“That’s awful,” TK said.

 

“Us Gekomon have been safe in our palace but everyday LadyDevimon sends stronger digimon to attack us. We need help.”

 

“Where’s Gennai?” Matt asked. “Izzy, you still haven’t heard from him?”

 

“No,” Izzy said. “I keep emailing but he hasn’t responded.”

 

 “Well then we’ll have to help,” Davis said. “We’ll go to the Digital World and kick her but! Right Tai?”

 

“Right,” Tai agreed. “Can you guys open a gate?”

 

Davis hesitated. “You mean right now?”

 

“No not right now Davis!” Tai said. “We’ll need a _bit_ of time to get ready!”

 

“We should be able to open a gate to travel through,” Ken interjected. “We opened one to send the infected digimon back after all.”

 

Cody and Yolie nodded in agreement.

 

“OK,” Tai said. “So we’ll meet here tomorrow to go to the Digital World.”

 

“Tomorrow?” Joe asked. “I don’t suppose it can wait until school holidays.”

 

Everyone turned to stare at him. Joe held his arms up defensively. “I’m still going,” he said. “It was just a question.”

 

“Everyone make sure you pack enough supplies when you go home tonight,” Sora told the group.

 

“Thanks mum,” Tai said. Matt sniggered and Sora glared playfully at both of them.

 

“Joe, can you pack a first aid pack?” Sora asked.

 

Joe nodded.

 

“Great!” Tai said. “I guess we’ll see you all tomorrow then, at about … 11 o’clock?”

 

“Sounds good.”

 

* * *

 

 

One by one the other digidestined left. Mimi saw Kari head to her room and decided to hang back to talk to Tai.

 

“Hi,” she gave Tai her brightest smile hoping it wasn’t obvious how nervous she was.

 

“Hey Mimi,” Tai looked like he wanted to run away, he probably was nervous too. “Everyone is leaving, maybe you should go home and get ready too. Big day tomorrow.”

 

“I will,” Mimi said. “I just wanted to talk to you first. I’m sorry we had to cancel our date today.”

 

Tai looked uncomfortable. “Look Mimi, I’m sorry but I don’t think anything can happen between us.”

 

 _What?_ Mimi’s heart felt like it had stopped.

 

Tai ran a hand through his hair. “You’re really pretty and everything but I don’t think we have enough in common and …”

 

“Pretty?” Mimi repeated. “You think I’m pretty? Is that the only reason you agreed to go out with me?” She’s thought he’d been one of the few people who saw her for more than her looks. She’d thought he liked her for who she was.

 

Tai seemed conflicted before he nodded.

 

“Wow,” Mimi felt her eyes filling up with tears and tried to hold them back. She would not cry in front of him! She saw Tai lift his arm as though he was going to comfort her before letting it fall back by his side

 

“Mimi I’m …”

 

“Forget it Taichi,” Mimi didn’t want to hear his apologies. She saw him wince at the use of his full name. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

 

Mimi turned and fled. Somehow she managed to make it all the way home at into bed before she broke down in tears.

 

* * *

 

**Matt**

“Matt! I didn’t expect you.”

 

“Nanc … I mean Mum, umm hi, I came to pick up TK,” Matt said wishing the ground would swallow him up.

 

“Hey Matt!” TK came down the hallway with his backpack and carrying Patamon on his head. Matt smiled at his brother and looked away awkwardly when Nancy hugged TK.

 

“Are you ready to go?” Matt asked.

 

“Be careful” Nancy said as she let go of TK. “Goodbye Matt.”

 

“Bye Mum.”

 

* * *

 

 

Everyone was at Tai's house ready to go. Matt wasn’t sure how he felt about their return to the Digital world. He was excited and relieved that they were finally getting a chance to do something about LadyDevimon but he was nervous. He was also unsure about his place in the team. Tai was their undisputed leader so what did that make him, Tai’s sidekick or something more?

 

He looked at the boy in question. Tai was currently shooting guilty looks at Mimi who seemed determined to ignore him. _Stupid Tai_. Matt noticed Mimi’s Gekomon friend seemed even more jumpy and nervous than yesterday.

 

“Is everyone ready to go?” Izzy asked, opening his laptop.

 

This was it then, they were really going back.

 

TK, Kari, Davis, Ken, Yolie and Davis stepped forwards with their D3s. A bright light appeared indicating the gate was open.

 

TK turned around. “Who’s first?” he asked.

 

Everyone turned to look at Tai. “OK then,” Tai said. “Looks like we’re first Agumon.”

 

“You should appear near the Gekomon’s Palace,” Izzy said.

 

“See you on the other side.” Tai lifted Agumon and they disappeared into the light together.

 

 They waited a moment. “I guess it worked then?” Yolie said when nothing happened.

 

“You’re next big brother,” TK said.

 

“OK, come on Gabumon.” Matt grabbed onto Gabumon’s hand and they stepped into the gate together.

 

They were met with the familiar feeling of flying between the two worlds. Matt grinned, he’d forgotten what a rush this could be. Matt caught a glimpse of Tai standing outside the Gekomon’s palace before something changed. It felt like he hit a wall. Matt was thrown violently to the side and started flying in a different direction. He clutched onto Guaumon’s hand. They were flying too fast. He couldn’t breathe. His vision started to fade. Matt felt himself slam into the ground before everything went black.

 

* * *

 

 

Matt woke up slowly, he realised he was lying on the hard ground. _Did I fall asleep outside?_ he wondered before his memories came rushing back. Matt sat up quickly. Yes, he was definitely in the Digital world. He’d landed in a small clearing surrounded by brightly coloured digital trees. And he was alone.

 

Matt was climbing to his feet when he was startled by a loud roar. He spun to see trees snapping as they were crushed by a large dinosaur. _Monochromon._ So he wasn’t alone after all.

 

Matt took a cautious step back. He didn’t want to startle the Monochromon and give it something to chase. The Monochromon turned his head towards Matt and Matt froze. The Monochromon started charging. _Crap_.

 

“Howling Blaster!”

 

Garurumon leapt from nowhere landing in front of Matt and blasting the Monochromon. Joe, Cody and their partners came running after him.

 

The Monochromon paused. He considered their group for a moment and must have decided they weren’t worth the trouble because he turned around and walked away.

 

“Thank you Garurumon,” Matt patted the wolf’s head.

 

Garurumon nuzzled into his hand before he changed back into Gabumon.

 

“You’re awake!” Gabumon said. “You wouldn’t wake up before! I was worried so I went looking for the others. I only found these four.”

 

“Hey! What do you mean only!” Gomamon said.

 

“What happened?” Matt asked.

 

“No idea,” Joe said. “One minute we were heading towards the Gekomon’s Palace, then we were spinning out of control and landed here.”

 

“There must have been something wrong with the gate,” Cody said thoughtfully.

 

Matt looked around carefully, he couldn’t see any familiar landmarks. “We need to try to figure out where we are,” he said, “then we can work on finding Gekomon’s palace.” Assuming everyone else had made it safely that was. Where were TK and Sora? Matt desperately hoped they were both OK.

 

* * *

 

 

**Mimi**

“Mimi, are you OK?”

 

Mimi looked up to see TK looking down at her with concern. Tai and Davis were standing further back watching them.

 

Mimi stood up. “What happened? I thought I was the last one through, where is everyone?”

 

“We don’t know,” TK said. “Something went wrong, we were separated.”

 

“We need to go,” Tai said. He looked anxious. “Kari’s out there somewhere.”

 

“We need to think of a plan first,” Mimi said. Tai turned and gave her a sharp look. Mimi glared right back, she was done caring what he thought of her. “We can’t just wonder off and hope we’re going in the right direction.”

 

“So we stay here and do what exactly? Wait and hope they show up?” Tai said loudly.

 

“Umm guys?” that was TK’s voice.

 

“They knew we were meeting here, they’re probably on their way now!” Mimi said.

 

“Guys?”

 

“You don’t know that! They could be in danger!” Tai yelled back.

 

“Would you two both shut up!” Davis yelled.

 

Mimi and Tai spun to look at Davis. He and TK were both looking at TK’s D-Terminal.

 

“If you’d listened to TJ you would know that Izzy’s calling us.”

 

Mimi felt her cheeks heat up, she couldn’t believe she’d allowed herself to act so foolishly. “Sorry TK,” she said.

 

Her and Tai moved behind TK and Davis to see the screen. Izzy was on the screen with Sora and Yolie behind him.

 

“Hi guys,” Izzy said. “Let me get the others back.”

 

They could see Izzy typing before Matt, Joe, and Cody appeared in the corner of the screen.

 

“TK,” Matt sighed in relief.

 

“What happened?” Tai asked. “Where’s Kari?”

 

“And Ken?” Davis said.

 

“It appears something went wrong when we opened the gate,” Izzy said. “I’m working on tracking their Digivices now.” Izzy kept typing. “Strange.”

 

“What’s strange?” TK asked.

 

“Their signal appears to be coming from the Gekomon’s Palace. But also it’s not. It’s like they’re at the Gekomon’s Palace but in a different dimension.”

 

Mimi felt Tai tense beside her.

 

“Like the Dark Ocean?” Yolie said.

 

Tai turned around and walked off suddenly.

 

“Tai?” Mimi asked loudly. “Tai!”

 

He didn’t stop. Mimi took a deep breath and followed him. He stopped on the palace’s stairway.

 

“Tai?” Mimi approached him hesidently.

 

“I promised her,” he spun around. “I promised I wouldn’t let her go back there!”

 

Tai was pale and shaking, his face was terrified and broken. It broke Mimi’s heart. Suddenly it didn’t matter that she was mad at him. “Oh Tai.” She grabbed his hands and pulled him to sit down on the palace steps.

 

Tai followed easily and lent his head on her shoulder. Mimi could feel him shaking as she ran her hands through his air.

 

They weren’t sitting there long before TK and Davis appeared.

 

“What did the others say?” Mimi asked.

 

“They want us to wait here,” TK said. “They’re going to meet us and then we’ll come up with a plan together.”

 

“We’re not going to wait though right?” Davis said. “Ken and Kari are out there.”

 

Tai lifted his head. He looked determined. “No, we’re not going to wait.”

 

Mimi looked to TK. His expression matched Tai and Davis’s, she wasn’t going to get any support there. Well if you can’t beat them… “So how do we find them?” She asked.

 

No one answered. The doors of the palace opened and a group of Gekomon emerged. Mimi could hear music coming from inside the palace. “If you come inside for a moment Princess we can help you find your friends,” one of the Gekomon said.

 

Mimi looked at Tai. His face was strangely blank, he shrugged.

 

“OK,” Mimi said. “Thank you Gekomon.”

 

* * *

 

 

Mimi sat at a high table watching the Gekomon perform a song with their musical instruments. Palmon, Agumon, Patamon, and Veemon were on the floor dancing along happily. The Gekomon had insisted on treating Mimi like a true princess. It was lovely but Mimi couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. Kari and Ken were missing, but they would be fine so that wasn’t it. Maybe it was the fact that the Gekomon were treating her like a princess when she was trying to change her image. She fidgeted in her seat, that could be it.

 

Mimi looked at Tai who was sitting beside her. He was smiling but he looked conflicted and maybe a little dazed too. Mimi wondered if he was judging her before remembering she didn’t care what he thought of her.

 

“Are you OK Tai?” Mimi asked.

 

“Yeah,” he said. “I’m just worried about everyone and I feel like I’ve forgotten something, something important.”

 

“Me too,” Mimi said.

 

She looked away but could still feel Tai’s eyes on her. _I don’t care_ , she told herself.

 

“Mimi, about yesterday … I’m sorry.”

 

Mimi ignored him. She looked past Tai to where Davis was sitting. He had a similar expression to Tai. “Are you OK Davis?” she asked.

 

“Yeah, I was just thinking. Weren’t we going to go after Ken and Kari?”

 

Mimi felt Tai tense.

 

“I think we were,” Mimi agreed.

 

“Do you think that seems a bit desperate?” Davis asked.

 

“What?”

 

“They’re going to be fine, what would Ken … I mean what will they think if we follow them.”

 

 Mimi frowned. She wasn’t sure why but she knew something was wrong with Davis’s response.

 

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Tai agreed. “Besides we’re safe here. I don’t want anyone going off and getting hurt.”

 

Mimi inhaled sharply. Something was definitely wrong. Tai would do anything to make sure Kari was safe.

 

Mimi turned to her other side. “Hey TK,” she whispered, “do you think there’s something wrong with Tai and Davis?”

 

TK leaned passed her to look at the other two boys. “They seem fine, why?”

 

“What they were saying about not going after Kari and Ken, that doesn’t seem like them.”

 

“Oh sorry I wasn’t listening before,” TK said. “But they’re probably right, Kari and Ken will be fine. I really just want to go home. I’m worried about Matt and mum, I wish they’d get along more.”

 

Mimi stared at TK for a moment before she jumped up.

 

“Mimi?” Tai questioned.

 

“There is something wrong with you all!” she said.

 

A Gekomon came rushing forward. “Princess, is everything OK?”

 

Mimi did her best to smile. “Of course, this is lovely, thank you Gekomon but I was wondering do you have rooms for us to rest? My friends are a bit tired.”

 

The Gekomon’s eyes darted around nervously. “Y… yes Princess follow me.”

 


	12. Gekomon's Palace- Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mimi and Tai are forced to defend the palace. TK and Davis have a different job.

**Mimi**

The Gekomon led Mimi, Tai, TK, Davis, and their partners upstairs to separate bed chambers. As soon as the door shut behind her and Palmon Mimi felt her head clear and her worry for Kari and Ken return. _What was going on?_

 

Only a short moment pasted before a frantic looking Tai burst into her room followed by Agumon.

 

“Mimi! Something’s wrong! We need to find Kari!” He sounded close to having a panic attack.

 

“Hey, it’s OK Tai,” Mimi stepped forward and hesitantly wrapped her arms around his neck in a hug. “She’s going to be OK.”

 

Mimi felt Tai wrap his arms around her waist briefly before he stepped away. “What’s wrong with me?” he said. Mimi’s heart ached as she saw his eyes fill with tears. “I knew she was in danger and I didn’t care!”

 

“I don’t know Tai but I don’t think it was your fault. We’ll find her.”

 

There was a knock on the door. Someone slowly pushed it open.

 

“Hey Mimi, Tai,” TK stuck his head around the corner before he entered followed by Davis, Patamon, and Veenmon. “I think I know what was going on downstairs. I emailed Izzy. He replied saying that he looked Gekomon up on the Digimon Analyser. Apparently Gekomon music has the power to influence feelings. I think they tried to force us to stop worrying about Kari and Ken.”

 

“But why would they do that?” Mimi asked.

 

“I don’t know,” Tai’s voice was hard. “Let’s go find out.” He stormed from the room with Davis, Agumon and Veemon right behind him. Mimi exchanged a nervous look with TK before they both hurried off after them.

 

 

* * *

 

 

“Tai, maybe we should think about this before we talk to the Gekomon,” Mimi said.

 

Tai ignored her. They rounded the corner and came face to face with a lone Gekomon. No one had time to react before Tai slammed the Gekomon into the wall holding him by his throat.

 

“Tai!”

 

“What did you do to us!” Tai demanded.

 

“I … I don’t know what you mean,” the Gekomon said.

 

Mimi spotted a group of Gekomon approaching. Their eyes widened as they caught sight of Tai holding the other Gekomon by the throat. They quickly started playing a song. Music filled the hallway. Mimi saw Tai’s hand loosen.

 

“Stop it!” she cried, covering her ears to protect herself. _Remember what’s important. Kari and Ken._

 

“Pepper breath!”

 

The group of Gekomon jumped out of the way with shrill scream. The music stopped.

 

Mimi removed her hands hesitantly. “Why are you doing this?” she demanded.

 

None of the Gekomon replied. Mimi noticed they were shooting panicked toward their friend who was still pinned to the wall by Tai.

 

“Tai, let him go,” Mimi said. “They won’t tell us anything while they’re frightened.”

 

Tai hesitated. Mimi took a step forwards and gently pushed his arm down. Tai let her.

 

Mimi turned back to the group of nervous Gekomon. “We came here to help you,” she said. “Please tell us what’s going on.”

 

“We’re sorry Princess!” A frightened Gekomon ran forwards and threw itself at Mimi’s feet crying. “We didn’t want to! She made us!”

 

“Who made you do what Gekomon?” TK asked gently.

 

“LadyDevimon! She came here and threatened us. She told us we had to send someone to the human world to make the DigiDestined return.  Then she did something to our gate to separate you all! She told us we had to keep you here, to play our music so you’d be distracted and easy to destroy.

 

“We took away your worry about your friends,” Gekomon said, “and we increased your other worries.”

 

“That’s why I was so worried about someone getting hurt again,” Tai said.

 

“And why I was worried about Matt and Mum,” TK added.

 

The Gekomon nodded. “Princess Mimi,” he said. “Princess, LadyDevimon is coming here tonight! She means to destroy you!”

 

Mimi nodded. “Well, you said she wanted you to keep us distracted so she won’t be expecting a fight. Now we know she’s coming we’ll have the upper hand.”

 

“No,” Tai said.

 

“No?”

 

“We’re not staying,” Tai said. “I need to find Kari!”

 

“But what about the Gekomon!” Mimi argued. “We have no idea how to get to the Dark Ocean but we do know the Gekomon need our help now!”

 

Davis looked conflicted.

 

“Well actually,” TK said. “I think Davis and I can probably open a gate with our D3s.”

 

“You can?” Tai said sharply.

 

“Maybe,” TK said. “We needed the whole group to open the gate that trapped Daemon last time, but this is for Kari and Ken. We can do it.”

 

Davis nodded with determination.

 

“But what about the Gekomon!” Mimi said. “We can’t just leave them, they need our help!”

 

“They would have been perfectly happy to let LadyDevimon kill us!” Tai said.

 

“They were frightened!” Mimi argued.

 

“Mimi’s right,” Davis said. “We can’t just abandon the Gekomon. TK and I have D3s so we need to go to the Dark Ocean but Mimi can stay here, you too Tai.”

 

Tai took a threatening step forwards which caused Veemon to step in front of Davis. “You are _not_ going to save my sister without me.”

 

“Please!” The Gekomon cried. “Please don’t leave us to LadyDevimon!”

 

“Tai, I want to help the Gekomon,” Agumon said.

 

“I won’t let anything happen to Kari. I’ll bring her back,” TK said.

 

Mimi looked at Tai she could see he was conflicted. “Tai,” she said gently resting her hand on his arm. “Please don’t leave me.”

 

Tai looked down at their hands. “Fine,” he said pulling his arm back. “But don’t except me to be happy about it.”

 

He turned around and stormed back towards his chambers. Agumon gave everyone an apologetic look before he followed.

 

* * *

 

 

“Hey Mimi?”

 

“Yeah Davis?”

 

“Can you give these to Tai?” Davis handed Mimi a box. “He told me he didn’t want his old goggles back so I bought him a new pair before we left.”

 

Tai hadn’t come to see TK and Davis off. Mimi was furious at him but was trying to hide it for everyone else’s sake. “Of course I can Davis,” she said. “That’s actually really sweet of you.”

 

TK snorted.

 

“I am not sweet!” Davis said. “I’m brave and dangerous.”

 

TK laughed harder.

 

“Shut up TP! I’m ready to kill some bad digimon cause I’m a badass!”

 

“Yeah? Where’s Veemon Mr badass?” TK asked.

 

“Umm,” Davis looked around sheepishly. “I think I left him in my room.”

 

Mimi watched him leave with a smile _. Boys_. She looked at TK, he was smiling but Mimi could see the worry underneath.

 

“You really care about her don’t you?”

 

“Who?” TK asked. Mimi only just kept herself from rolling her eyes.

 

“Kari.”

 

“Oh, umm yeah I guess.” TK looked nervously at the ground. “Please don’t tell Tai.”

 

“I won’t,” Mimi said. “Kari’s a tough girl TK. She’s going to be OK.”

 

TK smiled. “Yeah, I know. Thanks Mimi.”

 

The door opened again as Davis returned holding Veemon’s hand. Tai and Agumon followed behind him. Tai had a smile on his face but it was strained. Mimi could see through the strong leader façade. She knew Tai would give anything to be going after his sister. Mimi felt her anger wash away. It was really endearing how much he cared.

 

“Ready to go?” he asked.

 

TK and David nodded. They both held up their D3s and closed their eyes like they were concentrating. Nothing happened at first. Mimi thought for a moment their plan wasn’t going to work but then a black void appeared in front of them. It grew bigger.

 

Mimi’s eyes flicked to Tai, she half expected him to run through the gate before anyone could stop him.

 

“You did it! Way to go Davish!” Veemon said.

 

“And TK!” Patamon said.

 

“Please be careful,” Mimi gave TK and Davis a quick hug.

 

Tai patted them both on the back. “Mimi right, be careful,” he said. “Especially you TK,” he grinned, Mimi could tell he was trying to lighten the mood. “Matt will kill me if anything happens to you.”

 

“I’d be more worried about yourself,” TK joked. “What do you think Gatomon will do when she finds out you fought LadyDevimon without her.”

 

Tai smiled but it was strained.

 

“I’ll find her Tai,” TK said seriously.

 

“I know you will.”

 

TK took a deep breath and stepped through the gate with Patamon.

 

Davis hesitated, he pulled out his D-Terminal and threw it to Tai. “So you’ll have a way to contact the others,” Davis said.

 

Tai nodded gratefully and then Davis and Veemon followed after TK.

 

Mimi suddenly felt awkward now she was alone with Tai. “Umm … I’m going to go to my room,” she said. “We’ll meet later to talk about LadyDevimon OK?”

 

Tai nodded. “OK.”

 

* * *

 

 

Mimi was in her room passing the time before LadyDevimon attacked by talking with Palmon. There was a knock on her door.

 

“Come in,” Mimi called.

 

Tai entered with Agumon trailing behind him.

 

“Hi,” Tai said.

 

“Hi,” Mimi responded.

 

“I’m sorry about before,” Tai said nervously. “I was worried about Kari but I shouldn’t have snapped at you.”

 

“It’s OK, I understand. I think it’s nice how much you care about Kari.”

 

Tai shuffled nervously.

 

“Hey Palmon, Agumon, why don’t you guys go check in with the Gekomon,’ Mimi suggested. “See if they’re preparing for the attack.

 

Palmon and Agumon nodded and eagerly left the room. Tai smiled gratefully.

 

“I have something for you,” Mimi said remembering Davis’s gift. “They’re from Davis,” she said handing him the goggles.

 

Tai smiled, Mimi could tell it was forced. “I don’t deserve these,” he said.

 

“Of course you do,” Mimi protested.

 

“I walked away from the group when Izzy contacted us,” he said. “I snapped at you, I threatened a Gekomon, I let TK and Davis go to an extremely dangerous place without a second thought.” Tai ran his hands through his hair in what Mimi recognised as a nervous gesture.

 

“Tai …”

 

“How come you weren’t affected?” Tai cut her off. “When the Gekomon tried to make us worry about other things. You knew something was wrong.”

 

“It did affect me,” Mimi admitted. She went and sat on the bed the Gekomon has given her. Tai followed but kept a distance between them when he sat down. “The Gekomon were treating me like a Princess and calling me Princess Mimi and I was worried about what you’d think of me. I thought you’d think I was still that same girl who first came to the Digital World. And then …”

 

“Then what?” Tai asked gently.

 

“I remembered I wasn’t supposed to care anymore. After last night I told myself that I didn’t care about your opinion. I was going to be myself and if you didn’t want me than you were the one missing out.”

 

Mimi looked up at Tai, he looked stricken.

 

“I never thought that Mimi,” he said. “I know you’ve changed. You’ve grown up, we all have.”

 

“But I haven’t changed enough right?” Mimi felt her eyes fill with tears.

 

Tai moved closer and reached over to hold her hands. “Mimi, you don’t have to change, especially not for me. I like you just the way you are.”

 

Mimi tried to force the tears back. Tai’s words were lovely but she knew they didn’t ring true. Not after what he’d said last night. _You’re really pretty and everything …_

 

“I was stupid last night. Matt told me that if I liked you then nothing else mattered but I knew someone else liked you too. I didn’t want to hurt them so I told you I didn’t want you but Mimi it wasn’t true.

 

“I really like you and not just because you’re pretty. I like how kind you are, like before, you didn’t care what the Gekomon had done, you wanted to help them because it was the right thing to do. You always make me smile, you’re happy and bright even during the hard times. You’re so strong Mimi. When I feel weak the way you look at me makes me feel like I can do anything, you make me feel special, you make _everyone_ feel special. You stay true to yourself, you’re honest about who you are and you don’t care what anyone thinks.”

 

Mimi couldn’t stop the tears that where running down her face. She closed her eyes savouring the touch as Tai ran his hand down her arm.

 

“You’re my princess,” Tai said. “I know I don’t deserve it, but do you think I can have another chance?”

 

Mimi couldn’t find the words to answer. She nodded. Tai was an idiot but she wanted him to be her idiot.

 

Tai smiled at her and Mimi couldn’t help but smile back.

 

“Come on,” she stood up and offered her hand to Tai. “We have an attack to plan for.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

“We don’t have much of a plan,” Mimi observed from where they were standing on top of the castles battlements.

 

“No, but our plans never really seem to work anyway,” Tai said.

 

Mimi smiled. They waited in silence.

 

“I think I see something!” Agumon said. He climbed up onto the battlements to see better. “It’s her!”

 

Mimi squinted, she could see something small in the distance.

 

“OK,” Tai’s face was serious now. “Agumon, Palmon, time to digivolve. Let’s go Mimi”

 

Mimi and Tai ran down a spiral staircase which led outside. They arrived outside just as WarGreymon landed on the ground. Mimi couldn’t see Lillymon but she knew she was nearby watching. Their plan was for Lillymon to surprise LadyDevimon.

 

Mimi could hear what sounded like a large group of digimon approaching. They hadn’t planned for LadyDevimon to bring an army. She shared a look with Tai, he looked worried but confidant. Mimi wished she could feel the same. Her heart was beating quickly and she hoped no one could see she was shaking. She’d always hated fighting.

 

The digimon came into view. Most of the force was made up of Bakemon. Mimi guessed there were about thirty Bakemon. She tensed as she was reminded of being held captive by the Bakemon years earlier on Myotismon’s orders.

 

At the front of the group there were two large digimon, both looked terrifying. The first digimon looked like a large red devil wearing a black leather outfit. The other digimon looked like a skeleton wearing a black cloak, he didn’t have legs and was hovering off the ground. Mimi didn’t need the Digimon Analyser to know they were both evil. Speaking of…

 

“Tai, does Davis’s D-Terminal have a Digimon Analyser?”

 

“What? Oh yeah.” Tai fumbled with the D-Terminal like he’d forgotten he’d had it. “The devil looking thing is called Phelesmon and the skeleton guy is Metalfantomon, they’re both ultimate level.”

 

“Only the two of you?”

 

Mimi jumped. Her and Tai had been so distracted by the analyser they hadn’t noticed LadyDevimon land on the ground between them and her army.

 

“Yeah,” Tai said sounding much more confident than Mimi was sure he felt. “Apparently something went wrong with our gate, you wouldn’t know anything about that would you?”

 

LadyDevimon smirked. “Can’t say I do. It’s a shame I was looking forward to meeting your sister again, where is she?”

 

Mimi felt Tai tense beside her. “That’s enough,” she hoped she didn’t sound as terrified as she felt. “Why are you here LadyDevimon?”

 

LadyDevimon fixed her cold gaze on Mimi who did her best not to flinch. “I think you know the answer to that.”

 

“Stop wasting our time then,” WarGreymon said.

 

LadyDevimon smirked. “Very well then.” She and WarGreymon rose into the sky circling each other. LadyDevimon signalled her army and they started moving forward, advancing on Mimi and Tai.

 

“Black Wing!”

 

LadyDevimon’s hand changed into a long, sharp spike as she charged at WarGreymon. WarGreymon was quick. He dodged out of the way and then flew towards the army, forcing LadyDevimon to turn her back on the palace.

 

“Flower Cannon!”

 

Lillymon appeared from where she’d been hiding behind the castle battlements. Her attack hit LadyDevimon in the back causing her to scream.

 

“Why you …” LadyDevimon turned and flew towards Lillymon.

 

WarGreymon landed in front of the army and was met by Phelesmon and Metalfantomon.

 

“Darkness Wave!” LadyDevimon sent a group of bats flying towards Lillymon. Lillymon dodged but the attack distracted her enough for LadyDevimon to get close. She grabbed Lillymon’s wings and spun her around violently. She released Lillymon throwing her hard against the side of the palace.

 

“Lillymon!” Mimi screamed.

 

Mimi started to run towards Lillymon but was stopped by Tai’s hand on her wrist. “Mimi, we have to run!” he said.

 

Mimi turned to see what Tai was looking at. The large group of Bakemon were approaching them. Lillymon was hurt and WarGreymon was busy fighting off Phelesmon and Metalfantomon. There was no one to help them.

 

Tai’s hand slid down from her wrist into Mimi’s hand and then he took off running, giving Mimi no choice but to follow. They were running towards the entrance of the palace when the door suddenly burst open.

 

Tai pushed Mimi out of the way as a stream of Gekomon charged out the door. The Gekomon and Bakemon clashed together and started fighting. Mimi could hear the groans of the Bakemon and she could see little Gekomon limbs flying everywhere as they punched and kicked their opponents.

 

“Flower Cannon!”

 

Mim’s head snapped towards the yell and she felt herself grin when she saw that Lillymon had recovered. Lillymon’s attack just missed but she used the distraction to get close to LadyDevimon and punch her in the face. Mimi grinned and she heard Tai laugh beside her as LadyDevimon was knocked down.

 

“Terra Force!”

 

WarGreymon’s attack hit Phelesmon and he exploded into a cloud of data. Metalfantomon stared at the spot where Phelesmon had been. He seemed to realise he had no chance against WarGreymon alone because he turned and fled. WarGreymon let him leave.

 

LadyDevimon stood up and looked around. The Gekomon had gotten the upper hand on the Bakemon. WarGreymon had defeated his enemies and was ready to join Lillymon. LadyDevimon must have realised she couldn’t win because she threw Mimi and Tai one last threatening smirk before she vanished.

 

 _They won!_ Mimi breathed out a sigh of relief and flopped down onto the ground. Tai sat down beside her. Mimi looked up at him with a smile. “You did great,” she told him.

 

Tai smiled back. “So did you.”

 

Mimi couldn’t help herself. She pushed herself up onto her knees and leant closer to Tai. When she was sure he wasn’t going to pull away again she lent in and kissed him. She felt Tai tense for a moment before he kissed back. Mimi smiled and ran her hands through his hair.

 

“Hey!”

 

They broke apart to see Palmon and Agumon standing in front of them.

 

“Sorry guys,” Tai said. He opened his arms to give Agumon a hug. Mimi did the same to Palmon.

 

“Come on,” Mimi said standing up. “We should go inside and rest. Somehow I don’t think we’ll have long until our next fight.”

 

Mimi offered her hand to Tai to help pull him off the ground. She didn’t let go once he was on his feet and they walked into Gekomon’s Palace together.

 

* * *

 

 

**Matt**

Matt breathed a sigh of relief when they finally arrived at the Gekomon’s Palace after hours of walking. He liked Joe, and Cody was OK but he didn’t think he’d ever had such a boring time in the Digital World. He’d never admit it to Tai of course but he’d missed him. He was also glad he’s be seeing TK, there was a difference between knowing he was safe in the Gekomon’s Palace and actually seeing it for himself.

 

Gabumon stopped walking suddenly causing Matt to crash into him.

 

“What is it Gabumon?” Matt asked.

 

“I can smell something burnt,” Gabumon said.

 

Matt frowned as Gabumon changed directions and led them to a large scorch mark on the ground.

 

“What’s that?” Cody asked.

 

“It looks like …” Joe looked at Matt.

 

“Terra Force,” Matt confirmed.

 

They looked around. Now that they knew what they were looking for there were signs of a battle everywhere. Matt felt himself tense. _TK._

 

He sprinted into the Gekomon’s palace with Joe, Cody, and their digimon behind him.

 

He ran into a large room and was greeted by the sight of Tai and Mimi laughing and smiling with their digimon and some Gekomon.

 

Matt relaxed. They wouldn’t have been smiling if TK was hurt.

 

“Hey!” Matt said loudly.

 

Tai’s head snapped towards them. “Matt!” He ran towards Matt and threw his arms around him in a hug.

 

“Hey Tai,” Matt briefly returned the hug before pushing Tai off him. “Where’s TK?”


	13. The Dark Ocean- Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Matt deals with TK's absence. Kari and Ken encounter an enemy.

**Kari**

Kari was sitting down with her back against the wall cuddling her knees. The room she was sitting in looked like it could have been in the Gekomon’s palace but it was different. The room was empty and icy cold. Parts of the wall were crumbling. It looked like it had been abandoned for some time. Kari knew she wasn’t in the Gekomon’s Palace. She knew where she was, the sense of dread she felt was enough to tell her that. But it was different this time. _Not a dream,_ Kari thought. _Real._

 

Without the digital clock on her D-terminal it would have been impossible to tell how long they’d been here. The sky had been dark when they’d arrived and it had only gotten darker since.

 

Kari could tell something terrible was coming. She looked up and saw Ken was sitting in a similar position to her on the other side of the room. She wondered if she looked as pale and frightened as he did. Gatomon and Wormmon were sitting in the middle of the room looking at their respective partners with concern.

 

_This is real._

 

“I’m not going to wake up, am I?” Kari asked. She was surprised at how steady her voice sounded.

 

“No,” Ken said. “I don’t think so.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

**Matt**

The sun had been setting when they’d first arrived at the Gekomon’s Palace, it was dark outside now. Matt was pacing around the bedroom that the Gekomon had given him. He was furious at Tai. He’d practically sacrificed Matt’s brother for a chance to save his sister. There was a small part of Matt that realised he was being unreasonable and that he probably would have done the same thing. That small part of him regretted punching Tai in the face when he’d found out what had happened, but that was only a small part.

 

“Maybe you should go to bed Matt,” Gabumon suggested. “Everyone is meeting tomorrow to decide what to do. You can’t do anything for TK now, or for Sora.”

 

Matt’s stomach dropped uncomfortably. He’d forgotten about Sora. At least he knew she was safe, she was with Izzy, Izzy wasn’t an idiot. Great now he was thinking about Tai again.

 

Matt sat down on his bed with a huff.

 

There was a knock on his door.

 

“Come in,” Matt called.

 

Joe entered Matt’s room. He looked uncertain but he was smiling. “Hey,” Joe said. “Just letting you know Izzy’s group just got here.”

 

A weight was lifted from Matt’s chest. “Sora?”

 

“Yeah, she’s down stairs.”

 

Matt smiled and ran down the stairs with Gabumon behind him. He stopped and composed himself before the entrance to the main hall. He didn’t want to embarrass himself.

 

Matt pushed the doors open. He briefly noticed Izzy and Yolie chatting to Cody but he only had eyes for Sora.

 

Sora’s head turned towards the sound of the doors opening. “Matt!”

 

Matt’s heart felt like it skipped a beat as she smiled brightly at him. He smiled in return before they ran towards each over and wrapped their arms around each other in a hug.

 

Sora pressed her face against Matt’s shoulder, he tightened his arms.

 

“I missed you,” Sora mumbled against him. “I knew you were fine but it’s not the same.”

 

“I know,” Matt said. “I missed you too.”

 

They broke apart. Matt suddenly felt awkward as he remembered they weren’t alone. Neither he or Sora enjoyed public displays of affection.

 

He heard the door open again and turned around. Joe must have gone to get Tai and Mimi as well because the three of them entered together. Mimi was still hanging off Tai’s arm, clearly they didn’t have the same problem with public affection. Matt noticed bruise had started to form around Tai’s eye. He was torn between satisfaction and guilt.

 

Apparently Sora noticed the bruise too. “What happened to your face!” She cried.

 

“Why don’t you ask him?” Mimi said nodding towards Matt.

 

 _And to think I wanted those two to get together_ , Matt thought.

 

Tai looked uncomfortable. Sora’s eyes flickered between the two boys.

 

“It’s nothing,” Tai told Sora and Mimi at the same time. “Everything’s fine. I deserved it.”

 

 _Damn right you did_ , Matt thought. He saw the look Sora was giving him and felt guilty. He suddenly realised that everyone was staring at him and felt like panicking. Luckily Tai seemed to notice.

 

“It’s good to see you all.” Tai said. “We all have our own rooms upstairs, a Gekomon can show you the way. You should all get some rest.”

 

Matt took the out for what it was and fled the hall. He went upstairs but didn’t stop at the floor with the bedrooms, he kept going until he reached the roof.

 

He sat down with a sigh and looked at dark sky above him. He smiled when he saw the stars, you couldn’t see them in the city. It had been a long time since he’d seen stars in the night sky. He began to relax, stargazing was so peaceful. Matt started searching for any constellations he knew before he remembered this was the Digital World, they would have different constellations. He wondered if any digimon had explored space in the digital world. _I’ll have to ask Gabumon._

 

Matt heard the door open behind him and turned to see Sora making her way across the roof. She looked beautiful in the moonlight.

 

“Hey,” she sat down gently beside him.

 

“I’m sorry for running off before,” Matt said.

 

“And for hitting Tai?”

 

_Not really._

 

“Matt,” Sora warned.

 

Matt huffed. “I shouldn’t have hit him,” he conceded. “But I am still mad at him. He should have stopped TK from leaving.”

 

“TK made his own choice Matt. His friends were in danger, you would have done the same thing.”

 

“Yes, but now TK’s in danger too!”

 

Sora sighed and reached over to grab onto his hand. Matt gave her hand a squeeze and moved closer, letting his head rest against Sora’s shoulder.

 

“I’m glad you’re here,” he admitted. “I had to spend the whole day with Joe and Cody! I never want to hear about chores, homework, or kendo again!”

 

Sora laughed. “At least you weren’t with Yolie and Izzy. Yolie was flirting with Izzy all day and he didn’t notice! It was painful.”

 

Matt smiled.

 

“Speaking of painful flirting,” Sora said, “Tai and Mimi seemed close downstairs, are they together now?”

 

“I don’t know. I didn’t stick around to ask them about it after I punched Tai in the face. Mimi was definitely mad at me though.”

 

Sora sighed. “You’ll need to apologise for that,” she told him. “It’s OK to be mad at Tai, he’s an idiot sometimes but you can’t hit him.”

 

“I know,” Matt admitted. He wasn’t looking forward to that at all.

 

Sora seemed to read his face. “Tomorrow,” she said. “Let’s go get some sleep.”

 

* * *

 

 

**Kari**

Kari’s eyes were stringing. She knew it was because she was tired, her D-Terminal told her it was early morning, but she couldn’t sleep. Constant shuffling on the other side of the room told her Ken was still awake too. They were lying down, upstairs in the Gekomon’s Palace, well in the Dark Ocean’s version of the Gekomon’s Palace.

 

“What if we never get out of here?” Ken asked.

 

Kari didn’t answer, she was wondering the same thing. She needed her bother, she needed TK. At least she had Gatomon. She looked at her partner who was curled up with Wormmon. They were both in a fitful sleep. Kari wondered if the Dark Ocean was affecting them in their dreams too. If any of their digimon were prone to nightmares it would be Gatomon and Wormmon.

 

“I deserve to be here,” Ken said interrupting her thoughts, “but you don’t.”

 

Kari turned her attention to Ken. She wondered if his guilt about his time as the Digimon Emperor would ever leave him. “That was a long time ago Ken,” she said, “and since then you’ve done everything you can to make up for the things you did. You don’t deserve to be here.”

 

“That’s not what I’m talking about,” Ken said. “When we were battling SkullSatamon, at first he thought that dark spore didn’t permanently change me because I was worried about Davis getting hurt but then he realised he was wrong. I’m still as selfish and ruthless as I was before, Davis getting hurt was _all_ I was worried about. I would have let SkullSatamon tear the city apart if it meant Davis was safe. Joe and Izzy haven’t said anything, they probably assumed I was just distracting SkullSatamon, and they’re right but … I would have done the same thing even I hadn’t known they were there.”

 

“Caring for someone doesn’t make you weak or selfish Ken, it makes you human.”

 

Ken looked away, Kari saw him rubbing his eyes.  “What would you have done?” he asked. “If you had to choose between your friend’s life and letting a dangerous digimon go?”

 

“I … I don’t know,” Kari answered honestly.

 

Ken looked back at her. “Why are you here?” he asked.

 

 _What?_ “Because they gate …”

 

“No, that’s not how it works,” he said. “The Dark Ocean can only call you if there is darkness in you.”

 

Kari felt her stomach drop and looked away. _Was there darkness in her?_ Sure, she’d been depressed latterly but that was only because of the dreams that were haunting her. _Right?_

 

There was a thump downstairs, it sounded like something had forced the palace door open. Kari bolted upright and saw Ken do the same. Quite thuds told them there was definitely something down there. Kari and Ken scrambled to get their shoes on. Kari saw Ken tiptoe over to their partners and gently wake them up.

 

Gatomon was quick into action. She signalled for Kari and Ken to stand back against the far wall and positioned herself in the middle of the room in front of the door waiting. Wormmon made a nervous sound but he moved forward and stood behind Gatomon.

 

The door opened and a group of about ten Divermon streamed into the room. They spread out across the room.

 

“Sticky Net!”

 

Wormmon spun two quick webs reaching the wall on either side of him. There was a gap in the middle. If the Divermon wanted to come closer they’d have to go through Gatomon.

 

Kari thought Wormmon’s idea was good but unfortunately it drew the Divermon’s attention to him.

 

“That’s that digimon who was with the Emperor when he enslaved us!” one of the Divermon cried. He looked passed Wormmon and spotted Ken, “and that’s the Emperor! I’ve wanted to get my spear in you for years!”

 

The Divermon started advancing.

 

“Lightning Paw!”

 

Gatomon sent the first Divermon flying backwards, and the next. “Kari, Ken, go! I’ve got this.”

 

Kari and Ken exchanged a look and took off running down the other staircase. They reached the lower level of the palace and ran outside. They ran through a small clearing and into a forest. All the trees were dead and bare.

 

A web shot past Kari and attached itself to a tree. She turned around to see Wormmon swing from the Palace window with Gatomon on his back. They landed and the four of them kept running until they reached a cliff overlooking a beach. Kari couldn’t be sure but she didn’t think there was a beach this close to the real Gekomon Palace. It seemed all roads in this dimension led to the ocean.

 

The cliff wasn’t very tall, they would be able to climb down easily enough. Kari and Ken exchanged a look. Kari wanted to stay well away from the water and she knew Ken felt the same, but with angry Divermon after them it didn’t look like they had a choice.

 

Together they carefully climbed down the rock face. The sound of waves crashing on the beach seemed impossibly loud. Gatomon leapt from the top of the cliff and landed in the sand on her feet. Wormmon made a nervous noise but followed her using his web to swing down.

 

Kari’s feet sunk into the sand as she landed. She felt as if the beach itself was welcoming her and Ken back. She looked at Ken to see if he felt it too.

 

A loud roar made Kari jump. She spun towards the ocean and froze when she saw the digimon responsible for the noise.

 

It was huge. It looked like some kind of demonic giant squid. It was carrying a trident.

 

“That’s Dragomon,” Ken sounded scared. “This is his world, the Divermon serve him.”

 

“Gatomon,” Kari said weekly. “Gatomon, I think you better digivolve.”

 

Kari saw Gatamon and Wormmon digivolve out of the corner of her eye but her attention was focussed on Dragomon who was slowly approaching them.

 

“ _Queen_ Kari and The Digimon _Emperor_ ,” Dragomon spat the titles as though they offended him. “I have heard much about you from my servants.”

 

A growl behind them made Kari look up. The Divermon had appeared and were standing on the edge of the cliff, they were trapped.

 

“Finally, you have come to grant me my freedom.”

 

“That’s never going to happen,” Angewomon said.

 

Dragomon looked at her if she was a mere annoyance.

 

“Yes it will. You will need to open a gate to return to your world. When you do I will know, I control this world after all. My ally and I will use your gate to return.”

 

“Ally?” Ken’s voice was steady, maybe he was channeling his Emperor persona.

 

“Daemon,” Kari realised. “The two of you are working together.”

 

Dragomon nodded. “I will send my forces after you until you open a gate to let us leave. The sooner you do it the less likely you are to get hurt.”

 

“We can’t open a gate,” Ken said. “That’s the first thing we tried when we got here.”

 

Dragomon roared. It appeared he’d ran out of patience. Angewomon and Stingmon obviously thought so because they both flew forwards to attack.

 

Dragomon swatted them out of the sky like they were insects. Angewomon landed on the beach to Kari’s right, when she hit the ground she changed back into Gatomon. Stingmon landed on the other side close to Ken, he turned back into Wormmon.

 

“Forbidden Trident!” Dragomon reared back and launched his trident at the cliff. Kari and Ken dove out of the way.

 

Rock came crashing down between them.

 

Kari picked herself up off the sand. Thick dust floated in the air keeping her from seeing over the rock fall. She knew Ken was on the other side.

 

Bright red glowing eyes appeared in the dust. The Divermon. They were advancing on her.

 

“Kari,” Gatomon had recovered, “we need to run.”

 

“But Ken…”

 

“Wormmon will look after him. We have to run!”

 

The Divermon were getting closer. Kari nodded and took off running down the beach with Gatomon.

 

“Next time I see you I won’t ask as nicely,” Dragomon’s voice roared after them.

 

* * *

 

 

Kari and Gatomon ran until the Divermon stopped chasing them. They’d climbed up back into the forest but after wondering for hours they hadn’t been able to find the Gekomon’s Palace again. That was probably the Divermon’s plan, to chase them until they were lost and alone.

 

Kari was wet from her fall in the sand, the coldness had spread throughout her body. She sat down shivering. She wasn’t strong enough to do this alone. Everything around her looked the same, bare tree after bare tree surrounded by fog and darkness, she would never find Ken.

 

Kari suddenly remembered her D-Terminal. With the first bit of hope she’d felt since landing in the Dark Ocean she pulled it from her pocket. If she could contact Ken she might be able to find her way back to him, and their supplies, she would be able to change out of her wet clothes. If she could contact one of the others she might be able to talk to her brother. Kari’s heart beat faster at the thought.

 

She tried Ken first.

 

_Unable to connect._

Kari felt tears well in her eyes. Gatomon laid a gentle paw on her knee. Taking a deep breath Kari tried TK.

 

_Unable to connect._

 

This time she couldn’t stop the tears. Kari threw her D-Terminal down in frustration.

 

“What are we going to do Gatomon?” she said.

 

“I don’t know.”

 


	14. The Dark Ocean- Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Matt meets an old enemy.

**Matt**

Matt woke up early and couldn’t get back to sleep. He punched his pillow in frustration before he decided he may as well get up. He rolled over and saw Gabumon was already awake too.

 

“Morning Gabumon.”

 

“Good morning.”

 

Matt and Gabumon got ready and made their way downstairs. _If only the Digital World had coffee_ , Matt thought to himself.  They entered the dining hall. Matt was surprised to see that Tai and Agumon were already up. Tai looked awful like he hadn’t slept much. _He’s worried about Kari_ , Matt realised. The bruising around his eye didn’t help at all.

 

Tai had been playing with a D-Terminal but he looked up when Matt entered. “Hi,” Tai said nervously.

 

“Morning,” Mat nodded.

 

This would be the perfect time to apologise, while they were alone. Matt walked over and sat down at the table so he was facing Tai. _I’m sorry_. He couldn’t get the words out.

 

They looked at each over awkwardly, neither was sure what to say. The tension wasn’t helped by their two digimon partners who were sitting close together watching them like they were an interesting movie.

 

Tai held up the D-Terminal. “It’s Davis’s,” he explained, breaking the silence. “He gave it to me. I’ve been trying to use it to contact them.”

 

Matt didn’t need to ask who _them_ was.

 

 _Just say it. Two words. I’m sorry._ “I’m going for a walk,” he said instead. He hesitated. “Do you mind if I borrow the D-Terminal to see if I can contact TK?”

 

For a moment Matt thought Tai might say no but then he slid the D-Terminal across the table without a word. The tension in the room reminded Matt of the few times his parents had been in a room together since their divorce. _Well Tai did say we were married…_

 

“Right, thanks,” Matt took the D-Terminal and stood up, eager to escape.

 

“Bye Matt,” Tai said.

 

Matt stopped in the doorway and looked back. “Goodbye Tai.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

_Unable to connect._

 

Matt shoved the D-Terminal into his jacket angrily. He shouldn’t have been surprised. It hadn’t worked for Tai after all, but he’d still hoped it might have worked for him.

 

He and Gabumon were sitting in a forest with his back against a tree. They weren’t far from Gekomon’s palace, Matt could still make out the stone walls through the gaps in the trees. He huffed and hit his head against the tree. He needed his brother back.

 

Matt stood up and started walking further away from the palace.

 

“Where are you going Matt?” Gabumon called.

 

“I just need some time to think,” Matt said. “You don’t have to come.”

 

Despite what he had said Matt was glad when Gabumon followed him.

 

Matt’s thoughts were focused on TK. He thought of the upcoming group meeting. Would the group decide to go after the younger kids in the Dark Ocean, or stay here and find LadyDevimon? It was an easy decision for Matt, his brother needed him, but Matt wasn’t the leader. That thought caused him to frown. He wasn’t sure what Tai would decide, his sister was in danger but he _is_ the leader, he needs to think about everyone.

 

Matt lashed out in frustration and kicked a nearby tree. He didn’t feel better and now his foot hurt.

 

A deep, dark mist swept through the trees gathering around Matt’s feet.

 

“Matt?” Gabumon asked nervously.

 

Matt recognised the dark mist from his first trip to the Digital World. It had appeared when he’d fallen into depression. He looked around with wide eyes. He saw Gabumon who looked as scared as he felt.

 

Matt knew he had to fight off the darkness or he’d end up stuck in the same pit. He tried to remember the positive things in his life.

 

_Who was in danger and Matt couldn’t help._

 

Sora. _Was she mad at him? Matt couldn’t remember._

 

Tai. _Who let TK go to the Dark Ocean and who he’d punched in the face yesterday._

 

The dark mist rose around him, it was swirling around his hips.

 

A deep chilling laugh made Matt spin trying to find the source. 

 

“Hello again Matt,” a mocking voice said.

 

Matt recognised that voice. “Cherrymon,” he said spotting the digimon emerging from the trees.

 

“What do you want Cherrymon?” Matt said. “Are you here to convince me to hurt my friends again?”

 

“Is that what you want?” Cherrymon asked.

 

Matt gave Cherrymon a blank look and raised his eyebrows. He hoped Cherrymon could read the silent _are you kidding me?_

 

“No, of course it’s not,” Cherrymon said. “You have no idea what you want, do you Matt? Even your younger brother knows what he wants to do after school and you have no idea.”

 

“I…” Matt trailed off. That was true.

 

“It’s been six years since we met and you still don’t know your part in the group. You’re not a leader like your _friend_. You bring nothing to your team. They don’t need you.”

 

“That’s not true!” Gabumon said.

 

“Let me guess,” Matt said in his best sarcastic voice, “all I need to do is battle one of my friends and everything will be better. Would you like me to fight Tai again? Maybe Sora this time?”

 

Cherrymon seemed taken aback. “Well, yes. That is the best way to …”

 

“I’m not eleven anymore,” Matt interrupted. “You can’t manipulate me.”

 

“You think you can protect your friends?” Cherrymon tried to recover. “You can’t! No one needs you!”

 

Matt ignored him. “Gabumon now.”

 

Gabumon grinned and digivolved to MetalGarurumon.

 

Cherrymon took a few panicked steps backwards. “No wait …”

 

MetalGarurumon didn’t listen.

 

“Metal Wolf Claw!”

 

Cherrymon was defeated. Matt sat down on the ground with a loud sigh of relief. He’d wanted to do that since he was eleven. The dark mist started to thin but it was still present, swirling around him.

 

“Matt?” MetalGarurumon had transformed back into Gabumon and now sat down beside him. “You didn’t believe anything Cherrymon said did you?”

 

“What does it matter?” Matt asked. “Cherrymon’s gone now.”

 

“It matters because you shouldn’t under estimate how important you are to the team,” Gabumon said. “Yes, Tai’s the leader, and he’s very good at thinking about the big picture but you’re better at thinking about the small picture. Your friends are always your priority. That’s why you and Tai fight, because sometimes he puts winning first but you always put your friends first.”

 

“Not anymore he doesn’t,” Matt said thinking about that day in the classroom when Tai confessed he was worried about people getting hurt. “He was the one that didn’t want to fight the infected digimon.”

 

“You’re right,” Gabumon said, “he was worried about people getting hurt and he couldn’t lead the team. You were there to help him find his way again. That’s why we need both of you. The team works best when Tai thinks about the big picture and you worry about your friends. The two of you need each other.”

 

 _That’s my role, looking out for my friends_ , Matt realised. He touched his heart where his crest of friendship use to sit.

 

“Thank you Gabumon,” Matt said sincerely.

 

“You’re welcome.” Gabumon reached out and patted Matt on the head with his furry purr. It felt so backwards and strange it made Matt laugh. Soon Gabumon was laughing too.

 

The mist disappeared.

 

“Come on Gabumon,” Matt said. “Let’s go back. I have an idiot to apologise to.”

 

* * *

 

 

As they were walking back to the palace Matt was startled by a ringing from his pocket. It took him a moment to realise the noise was coming from the D-Terminal. _TK._

 

 Matt quickly pulled the D-Terminal out from his pocket.

 

“Davis?” His heart leapt at hearing Kari’s voice. At least she was OK even if she sounded terrified.

 

“No, it’s Matt. I have Davis’s D-Terminal,” Matt said.

 

The picture appeared on the screen. Kari looked pale and frightened but otherwise unharmed. The connection must have been weak because the image was flickering.

 

“Matt? You’re in the Digital World? Is Tai there? Is he OK?”

 

Despite the seriousness of the situation Matt smiled. It was clear Kari cared for her brother just as much as he cared for her.

 

“He’s OK Kari, he’s just worried about you.”

 

Kari smiled.

 

“You were trying to call Davis,” Matt realised. “Him and TK aren’t with you?”

 

“Davis and TK? No. They’re not in the Digital World with you?”

 

“They were,” Matt said. “They opened a portal to come after you.”

 

Kari closed her eyes and sighed. She looked guilty. “They shouldn’t have done that,” she said. “It’s dangerous. I’m sorry Matt.”

 

“It’s not your fault Kari. We all would have done the same if we could,” Matt was surprised that he meant it.

 

“Matt, Daemon and Dragomon want us to open a portal to release them,” Kari said.

 

Matt felt his stomach drop. “What?”

 

“I was with Ken and Dragomon attacked us. He told us that if we didn’t open a portal they’d kill us. We got separated. I don’t know what to do Matt, if we release Daemon and Dragomon they will destroy the Digital World but …”

 

Kari was panicking. Matt felt his own heart speed up, he was never very good at comforting people.

 

“Listen Kari…”

 

“What do I do Matt?” Kari cut him off.

 

Matt exchanged a look with Gabumon.

 

_You’re better at thinking about the small picture. Your friends are always your priority. Looking out for my friends, that’s my role._

“You do whatever you need to to keep yourself and Ken safe,” Matt said. Somehow he thought Tai would agree with him, no matter what Gabumon had said about Tai thinking about the big picture. “Don’t worry about Daemon and Dragomon, we’ll deal with them if we have to, just keep yourself safe.”

 

Kari looked unsure. The screen began to flicker.

 

“Kari? Kari!”

 

The screen went black.

 

_Connection lost._

 

Dammit! Matt almost through the D-Terminal against a tree.

 

“Come on Gabumon. We need to tell everyone what’s coming.”

 

* * *

 

 

“They’re my friends Izzy! You can’t expect me to do nothing!”

 

They were just about to exit the forest when they heard Yolie’s voice. She and Izzy were arguing outside the palace. Matt shared a curious look with Gabumon. Not wanting Izzy and Yolie to see them Matt hid behind a tree and gestured to Gabumon to do the same.

 

“TK and Davis have already gone to help them Yolie, you and Cody don’t need to risk your lives too!” Izzy said.

 

“Well it’s not your decision Izzy!” Yolie said.

 

Izzy sighed. “I just don’t want you to get hurt Yolie.”

 

Yolie’s face softened. “Thank you Izzy, but I have to. Kari’s my DNA digivolving partner and TK is Cody’s, we can’t leave them, Davis or Ken either.”

 

“Let’s … Let’s just go talk to the others first,” Izzy said. “See what they have to say.”

 

Yolie looked like she had more to say but she nodded and the two of them walked inside together.

 

Matt looked at Gabumon, “well that was interesting.”

 

* * *

 

Matt and Gabumon followed Izzy and Yolie into the dining hall. Everyone was sitting around a large table with their digimon. Matt spotted a spare seat next to Sora and sat down, pulling Gabumon into his lap as he did so.

 

“Hey,” Sora whispered to him, “are you OK? Tai said you two talked this morning.”

 

 _Hardly._ “Yeah, we did,” Matt said. Sora smiled proudly.

 

“I think everyone’s here now,” Tai said loudly, “we need to talk about …”

 

“I spoke to Kari,” Matt blurted. He tried not to flinch when everyone turned to stare at him.

 

“You … what?” Tai said.

 

Matt slid the D-Terminal across the table to Tai. “She contacted me on this.”

 

Tai immediately picked the D-Terminal up and tried to contact his sister again. His face fell when it didn’t connect.

 

“The signal was very weak and it cut out,” Matt said apologetically.

 

“Establishing a connection between two worlds is difficult,” Izzy said. “Kari must have contacted you when you were both in an area with a strong signal, relatively speaking.”

 

“Is she … what did she say?” Tai asked.

 

“She’s OK,” Matt reassured Tai. He thought it was best not to mention how scared she looked. “She was worried about you.”

 

Tai smiled faintly. “She always worries about other people.”

 

Matt saw Mimi squeeze Tai’s hand under the table.

 

“There’s more.” Matt explained what Kari had told him about Daemon and Dragomon. “I told her to do whatever she had to do to stay safe.”

 

“What?” Joe exclaimed. “But if Daemon and Dragomon are released then…”

 

“Then we will deal with it,” Matt said firmly.

 

“What about LadyDevimon?” Mimi asked. “She’s still out there too.”

 

Tai nodded. “We should take in turns on the roof keeping lookout for LadyDevimon, Daemon, and Dragomon.”

 

“I don’t suppose it’s even worth asking about Gennai again?” Matt said.

 

Izzy huffed. “Still nothing.”

 

“Cody and I want to go to the Dark Ocean,” Yolie blurted.

 

“Yolie, it’s too dangerous,” Sora said gently.

 

Matt saw Izzy give Yolie a ‘told you so’ look.

 

“But we might be able to help stop Daemon and Dragomon from coming back to the Digital World,” Cody said.

 

“Sora’s right,” Joe said. “It’s too dangerous.”

 

“But Kari, TK, Ken, and Davis … they’re _our_ team,” Yolie said. “We can’t just do nothing!” She looked around for support. No one spoke. “Tai? You let TK and Davis go.”

 

“I …” Tai briefly made eye contact with Matt before he looked at the ground.

 

“Fine! Whatever!” Yolie jumped up from the table in a huff and stormed off up the stairs. Cody stood and awkwardly followed her.

 

There was silence at the table. _I guess the meeting is finished then,_ Matt thought to himself. He knew he had to apologise to Tai, for real this time.

 

Matt worked up his courage. “Tai?” he said. “Can I talk to you?”

 

Tai looked surprised but he nodded. By an unspoken agreement the two of them stood and walked towards the stairs away from the curious eyes who were watching them.

 

* * *

 

 

Matt and Tai climbed the stairs in an awkward silence. They’d just reached the top when they saw Yolie and Hawkmon enter Cody’s room. Yolie had her supply bag on her shoulders and was holding her D3.

 

“Are we just going to pretend we don’t know what they’re doing?” Tai asked.

 

“What who are doing?” Matt feigned ignorance.

 

Tai looked at him in surprise and Matt couldn’t help laughing. Tai smiled back. The laughter died in Matt’s throat as he saw the nervousness that Tai was trying to hide.

 

“Tai. I’m … I’m sorry,” Matt said. “I never should have hit you. I was worried about TK and mad at you for letting him go but … but that wasn’t fair.”

 

“I wasn’t mad at you,” Tai said. “You were right, I was only thinking about Kari. I should have stopped him, if it were the other way around I would have expected you to stop Kari.”

 

“It was TK’s choice,” Matt said. “I need to let him make his own choices.”

 

Tai laughed. “You and I have never been good at that, not when it comes to TK and Kari.”

 

Matt smiled. “I really am sorry about your face.”

 

“And I’m sorry about yours,” Tai joked.

 

“What? Hey!” Matt shoved a laughing Tai playfully.

 

“So you and Mimi?” Matt asked when they’d both stopped laughing.

 

Tai grinned. “Yeah, me and Mimi.”

 

“I really am happy for you,” Matt said, “and I don’t think you have to worry about Izzy anymore, I saw him with Yolie earlier, I think he likes her.”

 

“Really?” Tai asked, “Do you think he’ll blacken my other eye when he finds out we let her and Cody go?”

 

“I don’t see why,” Matt shrugged. “You and I knew nothing about it after all.”

 

Tai smiled. “Yeah, no clue.”

 

Matt looked into Tai’s eyes. “You and I. We’re together in this right? We’ll need to be with what’s ‘coming.”

 

Tai flung his arm around Matt’s shoulders. “We’re together,” Tai confirmed. “Daemon won’t know what hit him.”

 

 

 

* * *

 

Thank you for reading :) Part 3 will be up on Wednesday. If you can't wait it's on my [blog](http://embracingmagicwriting.blogspot.com.au/p/chapter-5-dark-ocean.html).


	15. The Dark Ocean- Part 3

**Kari**

Kari didn’t know how she felt after hearing from Matt. It had been so good to hear his voice, to find out that Tai was safe, but then he’d said that TK was in the Dark Ocean… A part of Kari couldn’t help but feel relieved that he had come to save her but she wished he hadn’t. It was so dangerous, she’d never forgive herself if something were to happen to him, or to Davis.

 

“I could digivolve,” Gatomon suggested. “They would be able to find us if I shot some arrows into the air.”

 

“That’s a good idea but it’s too risky, our friends aren’t the only ones trying to find us remember.”

 

Despite her words Kari couldn’t shake the feeling Dragomon knew exactly where they were and he was just waiting before sending more Divermon after them.

 

Gatomon huffed. “Let them come. I should have digivolved in the palace and taken them all out then.”

 

“It wouldn’t have mattered,” Kari said. “I’m sure Dragomon would have just sent more of them after us.”

 

Gatomon didn’t respond. She was staring at Kari intently, as though she were trying to read her mind. Kari looked away.

 

“Kari,” Gatomon said in a soft voice, “please don’t give up hope.”

 

Kari’s breath caught in her throat, she never meant to upset Gatomon.  Before she could think of a response Gatomon looked up sharply.

 

“Gatomon?”

 

“I heard something,” Gatomon said. Her eyes darted around for a moment before she stood up and digivolved.

 

Kari strained her ears and then she heard it too. There were digimon approaching. It sounded like they were surrounded.

 

A tense moment passed before they spotted red eyes appearing out of the fog.

 

_Divermon._

 

“Celestial Arrow!”

 

Angewomon’s arrow hit a group of Divermon but more were appearing every moment, approaching from every direction.

 

Kari’s heart was beating in her mouth as the Divermon got closer. Angewomon fired arrow after arrow but it wasn’t enough.  The Divermon were getting closer faster than she could shoot. They were almost close enough to touch. Kari took a step closer so she was right beside Angewomon and screwed her eyes shut.

 

“Star Shower!”

 

Pegasusmon swooped down from in-between the trees with TK on his back. Kari’s heart jumped and she smiled for the first time since arriving in the Dark Ocean. Pegasusmon’s attack hit the Divermon from behind. The Divermon closest to Kari and Angewomon froze giving Angewomon time to fire off more arrows.

 

“Thunder Blast!”

 

Raindramon flew in with Davis, Ken, and Wormmon on his back.

 

“Heaven’s Charm!”

 

Angewoman jumped into the air and fired at the remaining Divermon.

 

Kari sighed in relief as the last Divermon was destroyed.

 

“Kari!” TK jumped down from Pegasusmon and wrapped her in a hug.

 

Kari laughed weekly against his shoulder. “Hey TK.”

 

“You’re all wet!” TK shrugged off his jacket and handed it to Kari.

 

Kari felt herself blush when she noticed the amused look on Davis’s face but she was too cold to argue and put the jacket on anyway.

 

“Thank you,” she said. “Why are your digimon in their armor forms?” Kari asked.

 

“We couldn’t find you, we figured we could cover more ground in these forms,” TK explained.

 

“Oh right,” Kari said, “but Davis, Matt has your D-Terminal, how did Veemon armor digivolve?”

 

“A while ago I put copies of my digi-eggs on Ken’s D-Terminal just in case I lost mine. Pretty smart ay?”

 

“It was _my_ idea and _I_ made the copies because I knew you would lose your D-Terminal eventually,” Ken said.

 

TK laughed, “that makes much more sense.”

 

“Shut it TS!”

 

“I’m sorry we ran away from you Ken.” Kari looked at the ground nervously.

 

Ken came over and touched her arm gently. “It’s not your fault we were separated. Wormmon and I had to run too.”

 

They smiled at each other.

 

Kari couldn’t stop the shiver than passed through her a moment later. TK noticed.

 

“Hey let’s get you back to the palace so you can get changed.”

 

Kari smiled gratefully. TK climbed on Pegasusmon and offered Kari a hand. She climbed up behind him and held on tightly.

 

“Umm Angewoman do you want to …” TK started

 

“I’ll fly,” Angewoman cut him off leaving no space for negotiation.

 

Kari saw Davis, Ken, and Wormmon climb on Raindramon.

 

“Let’s go!” TK cried.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Kari woke up to quite whispers. She felt much better now she was in dry clothes and had had a few hours sleep. She looked around. They were back in the Geomon’s Palace. Ken was asleep on the other side of the room with his head resting on Davis’s legs, their digimon were near the door talking to each other quietly, TK was sitting up close to her and was talking quietly to Davis.

 

“Ken said Dragomon would know if we opened a portal,” Davis was saying.

 

“Well what’s your idea then?” TK replied.

 

Kari sat up to let them know she was awake.

 

“What’s the time?” she asked.

 

“About 10 in the morning,” TK said. “We thought we should let you and Ken get some rest, Ken said you didn’t sleep last night.”

 

“Oh, thanks.”

 

Kari noticed Davis gently running his hands through Ken’s hair. He blushed and pulled his hands away when he noticed Kari looking.

 

“Do you want to go for a walk?” TK asked after a moment of silence. Kari looked at him in surprise and then nodded.

 

* * *

 

 

Kari and TK walked outside with Gatomon and Patamon loyally following after them. They sat down on the ground outside with their backs leaning against the palace walls. Kari thought she could hear the waves from the ocean but she didn’t know if the sound was real or in her head. She fiddled with the sleaves of TK’s jacket which she was still wearing.

 

TK noticed. “Are you still cold?” he said. “Sorry, I just wanted to get out of there before I fought with Davis again.”

 

“You were fighting with Davis?” Kari asked.

 

“Not really, I guess we just disagree about what to do next. I want to open a portal to go back to the Digital World, Davis thinks it’s too risky.”

 

 _He could be right_. “I spoke to Matt on Davis’s D-Terminal,” she said instead. “He said we should do whatever we have to do to get back.”

 

“What do you think?

 

Kari shrugged.

 

They sat in silence. Kari was thinking about the next fight, she knew it was only a matter of time before Dragomon sent more enemies after them. Maybe this time he would even come himself.

 

“Why do you think I’m here?” Kari asked.

 

TK looked at her with confusion.

 

“Ken said the Dark Ocean could only call me if there’s darkness in me.” Kari explained.

 

TK looked away.

 

“TK?”

 

“I have an idea,” he admitted, “but I don’t want you to get mad at me.”

 

Kari felt her stomach drop, so there was something in her, something she couldn’t see but others could.

 

Gatomon and Patamon were watching the conversation with interest.

 

“I think it’s because of your self-doubt,” TK said.

 

“Self-doubt?”

 

“You know,” TK looked uncomfortable. “You always worry that nothing you do is good enough. You do it with your work at school too but it’s worse when we’re fighting with the digimon. You always second guess your decisions and you think that you’re not strong enough.”

 

“That’s not true.” Kari looked down at her feet.

 

“Yes it is,” Gatomon said. “Before you kept saying you needed Tai or TK.”

 

TK nodded his head in agreement, “but you don’t need us. You make good decisions on your own. You’re so much stronger than you realise.”

 

Kari’s heart jumped at the desperate sincerity in TK’s voice. She looked up into his face and was surprised at how close he was. For a moment Kari thought he might kiss her but she never found out because they were interrupted by a familiar mocking laugh.

 

“Miss me?” LadyDevimon was floating in the sky above them.

 

Gatomon jumped to her feet with a hiss which only seemed to amuse LadyDevimon.

 

LadyDevimon looked past Gatomon to Kari. “I’ve just came from the Digital World where I defeated your brother and his pretty little girl friend.” She smirked viciously.

 

Kari’s blood ran cold.

 

“She’s lying,” Gatomon said without taking her eyes off LadyDevimon. “You spoke to Matt remember, Tai’s fine.”

 

LadyDevimon threw a glare at Gatomon.

 

The palace gates opened with a bang. Davis and Ken came running out with Paildramon behind them.

 

“We saw her from the window,” Ken explained.

 

Paildramon looked like he was about to attack.

 

“Don’t you dare,” Gatomon said, “she’s mine.”

 

 LadyDevimon laughed and rose higher into the air. It was a clear challenge.

 

There was a flash of light as Gatomon digivolved into Angewomon. LadyDevimon took off flying in the opposite direction. Angewomon chased her.

 

Kari started running into the forest after them.

 

“Kari! Wait!”

 

She could hear the boys behind her. She knew that LadyDevimon was leading them to the beach, and she knew it was probably a trap, but she kept running. When she got to the cliff she climbed halfway down and then jumped off into the sand. She looked up to see LadyDevimon and Angewomon in the sky.

 

“Black Wing!”

 

LadyDevimon dove at Angewomon with a long, sharp spike. Angewomon twisted out of the way.

 

“Celestial Arrow!”

 

LadyDevimon waved her hand sending Angewomon’s arrow off course.

 

Angewomon dove at LadyDevimon punching her in the face. LadyDevimon responded by kicking her in the ribs.

 

The two continued to trade blows in the sky as the others reached them. Kari noticed Patamon had digivolved to Angemon.

 

“We need to make a decision,” TK said. “We can’t stay here forever, especially if they’re sending digimon like LadyDevimon after us.”

 

“We’re the DigiDestined,” Davis argued. “It’s our job to protect the Digital World not set dangerous monsters loose in it!”

 

Kari looked at Ken, he looked conflicted. She remembered what he had said earlier and knew that he would have no problem setting Daemon and Dragomon free if it meant Davis could go back too but he didn’t seem to want to argue with Davis either.

 

“What do you think Kari?”

 

Kari winced as LadyDevimon landed a heavy punch to Angewomon. “I don’t know,” she said.

 

Angewomon got up and spun, sticking her leg out and kicking LadyDevimon in the face.

 

“Woah, that’s so awesome,” Davis said. He was practically drooling. Kari saw Ken punch his arm.

 

“Forbidden Trident!”

 

The large trident landed in front of them showering everyone in sand. Dragomon was standing in the ocean.

 

“I see you’ve brought more friends,” he said. “Does this mean you’ve changed your mind?”

 

“Never!” Davis screamed back.

 

Dragomon snared, “pity.” He reared back to throw another trident.

 

Angemon jumped into the air and charged towards Dragomon.

 

“Hand of Fate!”

 

Angemon’s punch hit Dragomon but it didn’t seem to have much effect. Dragomon flung his arms out trying to swipe Angemon from the sky, but he was slow and Angemon was able to dodge each time.

“He won’t be able to keep that up forever,” Ken said. “Paildramon you better digivolve.”

 

“Right,” Paildramon said in his two voices. He digivolved into Imperialdramon.

 

“Heaven’s Charm!”

 

A bright pink light lit up the sky. Kari looked up and saw LadyDevimon grimace as Angewomon’s hit her.

 

Imperialdramon took off flying towards Dragomon.

 

“You can’t win,” LadyDevimon said. “You can keep running but soon you’ll have no choice but to let my master return to your world.”

 

_Why did those words sound so familiar?_

 

Kari jumped as a huge bang echoed around the beach. Imperialdramon had been thrown violently onto the ground.

 

 _This has happened before!_ With a start Kari remembered her dream, her head whipped towards the ocean. She thought she saw her own pale face staring back at her for a moment before it vanished.

 

Imperialdramon slowly got to his feet as Kari looked to see who had attacked him. Her blood ran cold, it was Daemon.

“Chaos Flare!”

 

A huge tower of flame appeared from Daemon’s hand and swept towards Imperialdramon. Imperialdramon collapsed to the ground again as it hit him.

 

“Celestial Arrow!”

 

Angewoman’s arrow struck LadyDevimon and she exploded into data. Kari saw Angewomon smirk for a moment.

 

Dragomon roared and finally succeeded in knocking Angemon from the sky. Angemon hit the beach with a thud and turned back into Patamon.

 

Angewomon dove down to take his place fighting Dragomon.

 

Daemon walked past the injured Imperialdramon towards the DigiDestined. He rose his hand to attack.

 

“Chaos …”

 

“Tempest Wing!”

 

Halsemon came flying in with Yolie, Cody, and Armadillomon on his back.

 

Daemon turned to face Halsemon.

 

Kari knew they wouldn’t stand a chance. Not after what he did to Imperialdramon. She glanced at Angewomon who was busy fighting Dragomon. They couldn’t win this fight.

 

_What would you have done? If you had to choose between your friend’s life and letting a dangerous digimon go?_

 

“Stop!”

 

She remembered what TK had said before. Self-doubt was the reason she was in the Dark Ocean, she knew there could be no place for self-doubt if she wanted to escape. They couldn’t win, they need to do this.

 

“OK, we’ll do it.”

 

Everyone seemed to freeze.

 

“Kari,” Davis said.

 

“We’ll do it,” she repeated.

 

Daemon’s eyes were fixed on her. Kari couldn’t see his face from under the hood but she imagined he was smiling.

 

She held her D3 up, her hands were shaking. TK reached out and held her hand. They looked at other. Kari didn’t know if she’d done the right thing or not but something in TK’s face said he was proud of her. Ken’s hand joined theirs.

 

“Davis,” Ken begged.

 

Davis sighed joined them. A small gate opened. Yolie and Cody reached them and their hands joined in. The gate grew larger.

 

Kari started shaking as Daemon drew closer, his eyes never left hers. Dragomon slowly waded out of the ocean. He reached the gate and went through.

 

“Thank you for your help,” Daemon said, “I’m sure I’ll see you again soon.” He left through the gate. Kari dropped her hand and the gate closed.

 

The six of them stood silently. Their digimon joined them. Gatomon was back in her champion form, she took Kari’s hand.

 

Kari smiled down at her. “Come on,” she said to the group. She held her D3 up again. “Let’s go home.”

 


	16. The final Battle- Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Matt keeps watch. TK arrives back in the Digital World.

**Matt**

 

It was late afternoon and it was Matt’s turn to keep watch. Gabumon was sitting on top of the battlements peering out across the forest looking for any sign of danger. Occasionally he would sniff the air, Matt didn’t ask what he was smelling.

 

Matt was starting to lose concentration, he wasn’t sure how long he’d been up here alone. It was hard not to worry about TK. Deciding Gabumon was doing a good job of keeping lookout, Matt pulled his harmonica from his pocket and started playing. He closed his eyes and cleared his head. With everything that had been going on it was nice to relax.

 

When he was finished he opened his eyes he saw Gabumon was watching him with large eyes.

 

“What’s up?”

 

“It’s been a long time since I’ve heard you play the harmonica,” Gabumon said.

 

“Yeah, well I couldn’t fit my guitar in my bag,” Matt joked.

 

“I like it,” Gabumon said. “It reminds me of your first time in the Digital World, it was different then.”

 

Matt looked at Gabumon questionably.

 

“Back then I never realised that I would lose you when the fighting was over.”

 

Matt’s breath caught in his throat. “You’ll never lose me Gabumon,” Matt said unconvincingly.

 

“When this is over you’ll have to go back to your world and I’ll have to stay in mine,” Gabumon said sadly.

 

Matt sighed heavily. “Yeah, it sucks doesn’t it.” They were quite for a moment. “Let’s just try and make the most of the time we have together OK?” Matt said with a weak smile.

 

Gabumon smiled back. “OK,” he agreed. “Will you play for me again?”

 

Matt played to Gabumon for almost ten minutes before he heard the sound of a door closing behind him. He turned to see Tai and Agumon walking across the roof.

 

“Thought I heard your screeching up here,” Tai teased.

 

“Very funny,” Matt said.

 

“Have you been up here the whole time?” Tai asked

 

“Yeah.”

 

Agumon jumped up onto the battlements with Gabumon and sat with his feet hanging over the edge.

 

“Don’t fall,” Tai said. He turned to Matt, “you can go rest if you want. Agumon and I can keep watch.”

 

Matt couldn’t leave, he needed to be here when TK returned. “I’ll stay.”

 

Tai seemed to know what he was thinking. He probably felt the same way about Kari, Matt realised.

 

“They’re going to be alright,” Matt said confidently.

 

“Yeah,” Tai agreed.

 

They both looked out over the forest as though they could will their siblings back.

 

“Did you email Shuu?” Matt asked.

 

“Not yet.”

 

“You need to. If Daemon and Dragomon come back they could attack our world too, he needs to know.”

 

“We’re going to stop them before it comes to that,” Tai said firmly. “If we don’t then I’ll contact him.”

 

“If you don’t he might fire you.”

 

“I told you it’s not a job!” Tai shoved Matt playfully.

 

They stood looking out over the forest together. Matt started playing his harmonica again.

 

“Matt, Tai, look!” Gabumon cried.

 

Matt looked out to where a bright light had appeared over the trees on the edge of the forest.

 

“It’s a portal,” Tai said. “Do you think it’s …”

 

Matt didn’t respond. He was already turning to run down the stairs.

 

 

* * *

 

 

**TK**

 

Kari had certainly put her self-doubt aside. TK wasn’t sure if he’d been impressed or terrified as Kari had stared down Daemon and calmly said they would open a gate. Kari’s shaking hand as he had held on to it suggested she might not have been as calm as she seemed.

 

As they opened a second gate to go through themselves, TK hoped it would take them far away from where Daemon and Dragomon had entered the Digital World. He stumbled as his feet hit the ground. TK quickly looked around making sure his team were all OK and then looked to see where they were. He sighed in relief as he saw the gate had brought them to the Gekomon’s Palace.

 

The palace door suddenly burst open and TK’s heart leapt as he saw his brother running out the palace towards him.

 

“TK!” Matt slammed into him, wrapping his arms tightly around his body.

 

TK lent into the hug. At a different time both TK might have been embarrassed by the affectionate display in front of his friends but right now he needed the hug as much as Matt did.

 

Matt suddenly pushed him away. “What were you thinking! You could have been hurt!”

 

Matt pulled him back for another hug before TK could even respond.

 

“Tai!” Kari cried.

 

TK looked to see Kari and Tai run to embrace each other. Tai gently kissed the top of her head.

 

“Thank God you’re OK.”

 

“I missed you.”

 

They both spoke at the same time.

 

TK smiled as he broke away from Matt.

 

Matt looked at the rest of the group. “Is everyone OK?”

 

“We’re OK,” Ken said. “Wormmon and Veemon could probably use a lie down though, they were hit pretty hard.”

 

“We can help them,” Agumon said. He and Gabumon had followed their partners outside.

 

Agumon lifted one of Veemon’s arms around his neck and started helping him inside. Gabumon looked at the pair and then at Wormmon with confusion. It took TK a moment but then he laughed as he realised Gabumon had no idea how to help carry Wormmon.

 

Ken seemed to realise the problem too. “It’s OK Gabumon,” he said, “go help Agumon, I can carry Wormmon.”

 

Gabumon nodded gratefully and chased after Agumon.

 

“We should all go inside,” Tai said. “Everyone else will want to see you too and I’m sure you have lots to tell us.”

 

* * *

 

 

“So, Daemon and Dragomon are back in the Digital World?” Joe asked.

 

Everyone was gathered around a table in the main hall discussing the threat.

 

“Yeah.”

 

“What do we do?”

 

Everyone looked towards Izzy.

 

“Seriously? I’m just supposed to know?” Izzy sighed. “Do you know where the portal you opened sent them?” he asked.

 

“No, sorry,” Kari said.

 

“It’s not your fault,” Tai said. “Let’s think about what they would do next. Do we know what they want?”

 

“To rule the Digital World right?” TK asked. “I mean that’s what every bad digimon we’ve ever fought wanted.”

 

“If it were me and I wanted to rule the Digital World,” Ken said, “I would want to make it clear that resisting my rule was pointless. That’s why I kept going after the rest of you when I was Emperor, if I could defeat the Digital World’s heroes then no digimon would think of standing up to me.”

 

TK saw Davis squeeze Ken’s hand under the table.

 

“So you think Daemon and Dragomon might come for us here?” Matt asked.

 

“I don’t think so.” Ken said, “If it were me I’d want the defeat to take place somewhere with a lot of witnesses, maybe somewhere symbolic or personal to really drive the point home.”

 

“Like Centarumon’s Temple?” Mimi asked.

 

“Or Primary Village?” TK suggested.

 

“What about that weird temple where Yolie and Cody found their digi-eggs?” Davis said.

 

“It could be anywhere,” Joe said. “We can’t search every place we’ve ever been to!”

 

“We won’t have to,” Matt said. “If Ken’s right and they want us to come to them, then they’ll find a way to let us know where they are.”

 

“And if he’s wrong?”

 

“It doesn’t matter,” Sora cut in. “There is nothing we can do now either way. I say we can all get some rest. Us older DigiDestined will keep watch on the roof just in-case, but the rest of you go to sleep, you’ve had a big day and you all look exhausted.”

 

“Well I can’t argue with that,” Davis said. He grabbed Ken’s hand and pulled him up, “come on let’s go find Vee and Wormmon.”

 

Everyone started leaving. TK noticed Sora and Izzy take the steps to the roof, he had no doubt that Matt would follow sooner than later and try to force Sora to go to bed. Sure enough TK saw Matt frowning at the pair.

 

“Hey TK.”

 

TK was so distracted he jumped at Tai’s voice, suddenly right next to him.

 

 “Oh, hi Tai.”

 

Tai looked uncomfortable. “I wanted to apologise. Before you and Davis left I was acting like an idiot because I was worried about Kari.”

 

“It’s OK Tai, I understand.”

 

“Thank you for bringing her home,” Tai said sincerely.

 

“You’re welcome. I care about Kari way too much to have left her there.”

 

“Oh I know,” Tai said. TK saw him glance over to where Matt was watching the conversation before he leant in closer to TK.

 

“Just so you know, I’m not scared of your brother. You ever hurt Kari and I’ll make sure you regret it.” Tai stepped away and grinned innocently. TK gulped nervously.

 

“Night TK, night Matt!” Tai gave them a wave before leaving up the steps.

 

“What was that about?” Matt asked when they were alone.

 

“Err, nothing,” TK said. “How long are you going to give Sora before you go and take over?”

 

Matt smiled. “She can stay up there for now, that way she won’t miss any sleep later.”

 

“Good idea,” TK said. “You make sure you get some sleep too though, you can wake me up if you need me to take a watch.”

 

“Sure.” They both knew Matt would do no such thing.

 

“OK then,” TK said. “I’m going to bed, I’ll see you in the morning.”

 

“Goodnight TK.”

 

“Night Matt.”

 

* * *

 

 

TK saw the light was still on in Kari’s room. Not quite ready to go to bed he knocked on her door and hesitantly entered.

 

“Hi TK.” Kari was sitting on her bed with Gatomon, she looked upset.

 

TK went and sat down on the bed, leaving space between them.

 

“Are you OK?” he asked.

 

Kari nodded. “I just keep wondering, did I do the right thing? Because of me everyone’s in danger.”

 

“It’s not your fault,” TK said. “They would have kept attacking us until we opened the portal, someone could have been hurt, at least this way we have a chance to stop them. I thought what you did was brave.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

Kari still didn’t look pleased. “That’s not all,” TK guessed.

 

“No. I keep thinking, what if tomorrow we find Daemon and Dragomon and defeat them? All this will be over and we’ll need to say goodbye again.”

 

TK saw Gatomon look at Kari sadly and he tightened his own arms around Patamon.

 

“Yeah,” he agreed sadly.

 

It was a moment before Kari spoke again. “Do you think it will ever be different?” Kari asked.

 

TK hesitated. “I really hope so,” he said.

 

* * *

 

 

**Matt**

Matt had quick rest, being careful not to fall asleep, before he and Gabumon headed upstairs to the roof to take over watch duty. Sora, Izzy and their partners were looking out over the forest and talking quietly.

 

“Hey,” Matt smiled to himself as Izzy jumped.

 

“Oh, hello Matt,” he said.

 

Matt gently rubbed Sora’s shoulder. “You can go get some rest, I can take watch.”

 

Sora looked at him unimpressed. “Actually this is my first watch so I’m going to stay,” she said. “Izzy, why don’t you go to bed.”

 

Sora and Matt frowned at each other while Izzy looked between them nervously.

 

“Oh … umm.”

 

Sora turned her frown on Izzy.

 

“Ok, I’ll go … umm goodnight?” he hurried away leaving Matt and Sora alone with their partners.

 

“I don’t need you to baby me Matt.”

 

“I know,” Matt said. “Sorry. I just worry about you.”

 

She smiled at him gently. “Thank you, but I can take care of myself.” She leant against him resting her head on Matt’s shoulder.

 

“Are you cold?” Matt asked.

 

“A little.”

 

Seeing that Gabumon and Biyomon were keeping watch, Matt sat down and pulled Sora with him. He wrapped his arms tightly around her, trying to share his warmth.

 

“It’s really beautiful out here isn’t it?” She was looking up at the stars.

 

“Yeah, it is,” Matt agreed. “When we first got here, when I was avoiding Tai, I came up here to look at the stars. I wondered if the digimon had names for them.”

 

“Human’s name your stars?” Biyomon asked, “why?”

 

“So we can track them and explore space,” Matt said.

 

“Human’s like to give everything a name,” Sora explained.

 

“We can name the stars!” Gabumon said.

 

“I’m going to call that bright one Sora!” Biyomon pointed her wing towards the sky.

 

“You’re not supposed to give them human names,” Matt said.

 

“Well then what should I call it?”

 

“Yeah Matt,” Sora teased, “what should she call it?”

 

Matt glanced at Sora and was struck once again by how beautiful she looked smiling at him under the moon light.

 

“S … Sora’s a nice name,” he stammered.

 

Sora smiled brightly at him as the digimon continued naming stars. They named a group of stars that looked like a soccer ball Taichi and another they thought looked like a cactus they called Togemon.

 

“That constellation kind of looks like a guitar,” Sora said squinting and pointing into the sky, “it can be called Yamato.”

 

Matt’s breath caught as she looked up at him with a cheeky grin. His heart skipped a beat.

 

“I love you!” Matt blurted.

 

He felt himself blush at Sora’s surprised look. He wished the ground would swallow him but then Sora smiled brightly.

 

She reached her hand up, stroking his face gently before she pulled him closer for a kiss. Matt’s heart felt like it was beating out of his chest. Her hand stayed on his face as they broke away.

 

“I love you too,” she said.

 

Later, after Joe had reluctantly relieved them and he was tucked into bed, Matt had one thought. _I’m going to marry her one day_. He fell asleep with a smile on his face.

 


	17. The Final Battle- Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daemon and Dragomon send a message to the DigiDestined

**Matt**

 

By the time morning came Matt wished he could have stayed in bed. He’d been woken up by a sombre looking Cody. The mood down stairs wasn’t any better. He saw Sora and Biyomon trying to calm a distressed Yokomon. Kari was doing the same to a crying Koromon, Tai was nearby trying to calm Agumon.

 

“What’s going on?” Matt asked Mimi.

 

“They both got here this morning,” Mimi said. “Daemon and Dragomon are attaching their villages. They let these two go and told them where to find us. Ken was right, they’re trying to make it personal.”

 

Matt looked at Biyomon’s sad eyes and Agumon’s shaking body. “I think they already did.”

 

Tai looked around the room. “Is everyone here?”

 

“Yes,” someone said.

 

“Good, we need to get started. We know where Daemon and Dragomon are. They attacked the Koromon and Yokomon villages.”

 

“So we need to spilt up?” Kari asked.

 

“Yeah,” Tai said. “I don’t like it either but it’s the only way, the Koromon and Yokomon both need help now.”

 

Matt found himself nodding in agreement. “What will the groups be?” he asked.

 

“What about my group and Tai’s group,” Davis said.

 

Matt didn’t like their group being referred to as _Tai’s group_. He liked the idea of splitting up with TK even less, but he had to admit it made sense.

 

“And we’ll go to the Koromon village, right Tai?” Agumon said.

 

“That’s where Daemon is right,” Tai asked the Koromon.

 

Koromon nodded tearfully.

 

“Then yes, we’ll go there,” Tai said.

 

Biyomon peeped sadly.

 

“Biyomon and I will go with Davis’s group,” Sora said.

 

Matt’s stomach dropped. “But …”

 

“I have to Matt! They’re Biyomon’s friends.”

 

“I’m come too then, if you and TK are both going.”

 

“No, you need to be with Tai, you’re stronger together,” Sora said. “Besides we’ll be fine,” she smiled.

 

Matt knew she was right even if he didn’t like it. “OK,” he conceded. “Just be careful.”

 

“If that’s settled we should all go and get ready,” Tai said. “We don’t have time to waste.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

Matt found TK in his room.

 

“Ready to go?” TK asked.

 

Matt nodded. “I really wish I could go with you,” he said. “But Sora’s right, I need to be with Tai.”

 

“Yeah I know,” TK grinned. “Don’t worry, we’re going to be fine and I’ll see you back here after we both win.”

 

“I wish I had your optimism,” Matt said.

 

“It’s not optimism,” TK said. “It’s faith.”

 

“Faith?” Matt questioned sceptically.

 

“I have faith in us and in our friends. After everything we’ve been through I don’t think there is a battle we can’t win, as long as we believe in ourselves.”

 

“I …” Matt didn’t know what to say. How could someone who had been through so much at such a young age be so positive? He was so proud of his little brother. “I guess that’s why you have the crest of hope right?”

 

“Yeah,” TK said. He smiled nervously at Matt before rushing forwards and wrapping him up in a hug. “Please be careful.”

 

Matt tightened his arms around his brother squeezing him tight. “I will. You too OK?”

 

TK nodded and pulled away. “We should go, everyone will be waiting.”

 

* * *

**TK**

 

Although TK had tried to put on a brave face for Matt before they left the palace, he couldn’t deny he was nervous now. He and Kari were sitting on one of Birdramon’s feet while Sora sat on the other. Gatomon and Patamon were with them, saving their strength for now. Cody, Armadillomon, and Yolie were riding Halsemon. Davis and Ken were leading the group on Imperialdramon.

 

TK could feel how anxious Birdramon was, she was tense underneath him and her movements were jerky. He imagined she was desperate to help her friends. He had felt the same way when Kari and Ken were missing.

 

Imperialdramon made a sudden dive towards the ground. They must be close. TK looked around, the landscape was beginning to look familiar.

 

“You two better digivolve,” TK said to Patamon and Gatomon. Patamon flapped away from Birdramon and divivolved into Angemon. Gatomon leapt into the sky and did the same.

 

TK’s blood ran cold as the large shape of Dragomon came into view. As they swooped down closer he saw that Dragomon was standing in the middle of the village. Groups of Yokomon were hiding in their small huts. Dragomon lashed out with one of his tentacles causing the Yokomon to sheik with terror. He was only toying with them, trying to frighten them, TK realised. Some of the huts were smoking. Meramon had come down from his mountain and it looked like he was doing his best to defend the village. Dragomon wasn’t paying him much attention.

 

Dragomon had spotted them. He smirked cruelly and held their eyes as he threw a trident at one on the Yokomon huts. TK barely had time to hope no one was hurt before Dragomon had summoned another trident and launched it at the DigiDestined.

 

Birdramon dodged to the side and TK felt his stomach drop as he almost slipped. He tightened his grip just in time.

 

“B!” he heard Sora yell. “Put us down!”

 

TK felt a lot safer when his feet touched the ground. As soon as Sora and Kari had jumped off Birdramon digivolved to Garudamon.

 

“Wing Blade!” Garudamon’s attack hardly caused Dragomon to stumble.

 

Halsemon landed, letting Yolie and Cody off and giving Armadillomon an opportunity to digivolve into Ankylomon.

 

“Tempest Wing!”

 

“Tail Hammer”

 

There attacks had no more effect. Dragomon roared and managed to swipe Halsemon from the sky.

 

“Halsemon!” Yolie cried.

 

Sora stopped her from running after Halsemon. “We have help evacuate the Yokomon!” she said.

 

“But where can they go that’s safe?” Cody asked.

 

“The boat,” TK said, remembering their last time in the Yokomon village.

 

“What boat?”

 

“It’s underwater at the moment,” Sora pointed out.

 

“Still, we have to do something!” Kari said.

 

They all ducked as they were suddenly showered in dirt. Dragomon had frown another trident, he only narrowly missed Ankylomon.

 

“Hand of Fate!”

 

“Celestial Arrow!”

 

Angemon and Angewomon had joined the fight. Imperialdramon came swooping in behind them.

 

“Positron Laser!”

 

Dragomon dodged the attack with surprising speed. He threw a trident at Imperialdramon, hitting him in the shoulder and causing him to slam into the ground. He wasn’t playing around anymore. For the first time TK felt some of his hope fade. If Imperialdramon couldn’t defeat Dragomon, who could?

 

* * *

 

 

**Matt**

 

They were sitting on MegaKabuterimon’s large shell flying towards the Koromon village, and towards Daemon. Tai and Mimi were sitting up the front whispering together. Izzy was typing on his laptop behind them. The digimon were together in the middle. Matt and Joe were up the back.

 

“I remember the first time we came here,” Matt said. “Pagumon had taken over the village.”

 

“Tai and Izzy walked in on me in the bath!” Mimi said.

 

Tai laughed while Izzy blushed furiously.

 

“That was our first day on Server,” Joe recalled. “back then our biggest problem was Etemon. A lot has changed since then.”

 

“A lot is the same too!” Gomamon said. “Joe still worries about everything!”

 

“Hey!”

 

“Mimi’s still lots of fun!” Palmon said.

 

“Tai’s still really brave!” Agumon said.

 

“Matt’s still the best friend I’ve ever had,” Gabumon said sincerely.

 

Matt gave a Gabumon a grateful smile.

 

“Come on guys,” Tai joked, “your embarrassing us!”

 

Matt laughed with his friends.

 

“I think we’re almost there,” Izzy said. The laughter suddenly stopped.

 

“We should land,” Tai said. “Let everyone Digivolve before we get there.”

 

* * *

 

 

Matt jumped down as soon as MegaKabuterimon landed. He helped Gabumon down as the others digivolved.

 

“Ready?” Matt asked.

 

Gabumon nodded and digivolved to MetalGarurumon.

 

“We should try and see what we’re up against before we go in there,” Matt said.

 

Tai hesitated but then agreed.

 

“I can fly past the village,” Lillymon suggested.

 

Tai nodded. “Don’t get too close, try not to let him see you.”

 

* * *

 

 

While Lillymon was gone they waited in tense silence. They were all no doubt thinking of the battle that lay ahead, not even Tai was talking.

 

After about five minutes Lillymon returned.

 

“Did Daemon see you?” Tai asked.

 

“I don’t think so,” Lillymon said. “He has all of the Koromon gathered in the middle of the village. He’s not letting them leave. I saw one little Koromon try to leave and …,” her face fell, “it was awful.”

 

Matt felt anger build up inside of him, they wouldn’t let Daemon get away with this.

 

“So it’s like Ken said? He wants to beat us in front of witnesses?” Izzy asked.

 

“Looks that way,” Tai confirmed. “Lillymon, were there any other bad guys there or just Daemon?”

 

“I only saw Daemon.”

 

“OK,” Tai said, “so, we’ll go in hard with Omegamon, Lillymon, MegaKabuterimon, and Zudomon, we’ll kick Daemon’s but, and then we’ll go home. Easy.”

 

“That’s it?” Matt said. “That’s the whole plan?”

 

“Unless there’s something you want to add?”

 

“No,” Matt said. “I think it’s good.”

 

“Good,” Tai said. “You and me are together in this yeah?”

 

Matt smiled at him. “Yeah, we are.” He looked at their two digimon. “What about you two? You ready?”

 

MetalGarurumon and WarGreymon nodded. Matt’s body was filled with a familiar tingly warmth as they started to digivolve together. He remembered what Gabumon had said, how he and Tai needed each other. Matt realised he was right, they were stronger together. He made eye contact with Tai and the two of them shared a warm smile. Matt knew, in that moment, that they could do this.

 

Omegamon’s cape blasted out around him as he finished fully forming.

 

Omegamon looked around the group. “We’re ready. Let’s go save the Koromon.”

 

* * *

 

 

Koromon village was exactly how Lillymon had described it. The Koromon had been herded into the middle of village. Daemon was standing guard. There were scorch marks on the ground. Matt’s stomach turned as he realised they were the result of Daemon destroying a Koromon who had tried to escape.

 

Daemon looked up with a smirk as they flew in. “Look Koromon, your heroes the DigiDestined are here. Now you get to watch as I destroy them.”

 

They landed in the middle of the village.

 

“You know,” Tai said as they jumped down from MegaKabuterimon. “When you came to our world and our friends locked you away instead of defeating you, I thought you would be different, but you’re just like every other evil digimon we’ve ever fought.

 

Matt noticed Mimi and Izzy were using the distraction to try and shepherd Koromon towards the hills unnoticed.

 

“I think you’ll find I’m much different than those other digimon. For one thing I don’t under estimate you.”

 

“Evil Inferno!”

 

Without warning Daemon whipped a hand towards Mimi and Izzy sending a rush of flames towards them. Matt felt the warmth on his own face as Lillymon dove towards Mimi and Izzy, pushing them out of the way. The flames burnt everything in their path. An entire Koromon hut was gone, Matt hoped no Koromon were in path of the flames.

 

“Electro Shocker!”

 

“Vulcan’s Hammer!”

 

Matt ran forwards and grabbed onto Tai’s hand, pulling him back as MegaKabuterimon and Zudomon attacked. Daemon waved a hand deflecting the attacks. Both attacks landed on nearby Koromon huts causing them to explode. Little Koromon were panicking and running everywhere looking for safety. Matt and Tai had been separated from the others.

 

“Supreme Cannon!”

 

Omegamon’s freezing attack hit Daemon. He froze for a moment before he broke free and shook the ice off.

 

“Did you see that?” Tai said beside him. “The attacked worked for a moment, if we can freeze him again and everyone attacks together we’ll be able to beat him!”

 

Matt nodded, that could work.

 

There was a large roar from the mountains. Matt and Tai turned to see a large digimon who looked like a skeleton in a black cloak. In the place of legs there was a ball of electricity keeping him floating in the air. He was leading an army of Pagumon.

 

“Who is that?” Matt asked.

 

“MetalFantomon,” Tai answered. “He was fighting with LadyDevimon at Gekomon’s Palace.

 

“Evil Inferno!”

 

The army had distracted Matt and Tai so they were taken by surprise when a tower of flame was blasted towards them.

 

Matt felt a scorching heat all over his body before one of Omegamon’s large arms knocked him out of the way. Matt and Tai landed together in the dirt.

 

“Transcendent Sword!”

 

Omegamon lunged at Daemon with his sword. Daemon dodged and punched Omegamon hard in the face.

 

The Pagumon army were charging down the hill. Some Koromon were standing and fighting them while many turned and fled, running back towards the danger of Daemon. Lillymon and MegaKabuterimon were fighting MetalFantomon, they looked to be losing. Only Zudomon was left to help Omegamon fight Daemon, he wasn’t enough.

 

“Tai,” Matt said. “Tai, we can’t win this.”

 

* * *

 

 

**TK**

 

Halsemon and Imperialdramon were slowly getting to their feet. TK breathed a sigh of relief as he saw Ken helping Davis stand, they were OK. As Imperialdramon stood he transformed into fighter mode.

 

“Wing Blade!”

 

“Tail Hammer!”

 

Garudamon and Ankylomon launched attacks at Dragomon. Ken and Davis ran towards the group. They ducked as rocks were blasted around the village.

 

“We need to do something,” Sora said. “The Yokomon are going to be hurt.”

 

“There is nowhere safe for them to go!” Yolie said.

 

“Tentacle Claw!”

 

Dragomon attacked Ankylomon, sending him flying backwards. As he hit the ground he transformed back into Armadillomon.

 

“Armadillomon!” Cody yelled. Everyone crouched around Armadillomon to see if he was OK. Ken and Davis finally reached them and stood behind the group.

 

TK looked up and saw Angemon and Angewomon attack together. Angewoman’s arrow caused Dragomon to grimace. He quickly recovered but it was enough for TK to realise, Dragomon was not unbeatable, they still had hope.

 

“I’m OK,” Armadillomon was saying, “I just need a moment and I’ll be able to digivole to Ankylomon again.”

 

“No,” TK said, struck by a sudden idea. “Don’t. Digivolve to Digmon instead. You’ll be able to dig a tunnel to evacuate the Yokomon.”

 

Armadillomon nodded and digivolved. He soon disappeared underground. TK watched as their digimon and Meramon took turns attacking. Dragomon was starting to weaken.

 

“We can do this,” TK said out loud.

 

As soon as the words fell from his mouth a strange warm sensation came over his body. In the sky Angemon was engulfed by a bright light.

 

TK gasped as he realised Angemon was digivolving.

 

“MagnaAngemon!” Sora cried with a grin.

 

There was a loud crack as Digmon broke to the surface in the middle of the village. Almost immediately Yokomon started pouring into the hole to escape the village.

 

Garudamon, Halsemon, and Angewomon were providing them with cover. The Yokomon emerged from the tunnel and started gathering around the DigiDestined.

 

“We can do this,” TK repeated, “but we need to do it together. Kari, remember the first time we beat Myotismon?”

 

Kari nodded at ran forward. “Angewomon!” she cried. “Angewomon, you need to attack him together! Remember Myotismon!”

 

In the sky Angewomon nodded. A bright pink light appeared around her.

 

“Holy Air!”

 

The light moved up Angewomon into a ring in the sky above her. MagnaAngemon and Garudamon were the first to realise what they needed to do.

 

“Angel Rod!”

 

“Wing Blade!”

 

They aimed their attacks at the ring above Angewomon. Halsemon and Digmon copied them.

 

“Tempest Wing!”

 

“Gold Rush!”

 

Imperialdramon joined in too.

 

“Positron Laser!”

 

Angewomon reached up and drew energy from the ring.

 

“Celestial Arrow!”

 

Her arrow pierced Dragomon in the chest. He collapsed to the ground in agony.

 

“Gate of Destiny!”

 

MagnaAngemon opened a spinning gate behind Dragomon. Garudamon swooped down and kicked Dragomon into the gate. The Yokomon around them erupted in cheers as the gate closed.

 

TK sighed with relief and smiled as Kari turned around to face him.

 

“I can’t believe it,” she said. “We won!”

 


	18. The Final Battle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Matt group battles Daemon. The DigiDestined aren't ready to say goodbye.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi congratulations on making it to the end of my story! I hope you've enjoyed it. Thank you so much to everyone who read, subscribed, or commented! I really appreciate it!

**Matt**

 

Tai was looking around the battle ground with fearful eyes. Lillymon and MegaKabuterimon were struggling against MetalFantomon. Zudomon and Omegamon didn’t stand a chance fighting Daemon alone. Even the Koromon were getting over ran by Pagumon. Matt knew Tai was coming to the same conclusion he had, they couldn’t win.

 

Joe was over the other side of the village with Zudomon. Matt couldn’t even see Mimi or Izzy anymore.

 

“We need to do something,” Tai said.

 

“What can we do?”

 

“We can beat Daemon if we all work together,” Tai said, he didn’t sound very confidant. “We just have to hold him off until Lillymon and MegaKabuterimon can beat MetalFantomon.” Matt saw MetalFantomon slam Lillymon into the ground before attacking MegaKabuterimon. They wouldn’t beat him alone.

 

“Zudomon!” Matt called. “Help Lillymon and MegaKabuterimon. We’ll hold off Daemon!”

 

Even as Matt said the words Daemon blasted a wall of fire towards Zudomon stopping him from leaving.

 

Omegamon lunged at Daemon with his sword but Daemon managed to block the attack again.

 

Some of the fleeing Koromon were getting dangerously close to Daemon. Matt ran forward.

 

“Matt! What are you doing!” Tai yelled.

 

Matt span around. “We can’t stop Daemon, but we _can_ help some of the Koromon escape.”

 

Tai looked conflicted but after a nervous look towards Omegamon he ran forward with Matt.

 

“Come on!” Tai yelled at the Koromon, “run towards the mountains! You’ll be safer there!”

 

A little Koromon ran past Matt’s feet. “Hey! Where’re you going?”

 

“We need to run away from the Pagumon!” the terrified Koromon said.

 

“You’re running towards Daemon!” Matt said. “I know you’re scared but you can’t beat Daemon, you _can_ beat the Pagumon if you fight back. Can you see your friends fighting? If you abandon them now you’ll regret it, believe me I know.”

 

The little Koromon looked scared but it nodded and ran back towards the hills.

 

When the Koromon were rounded up Matt and Tai ran towards the hills where they could see Mimi and Izzy hiding behind some rocks, they had been joined by Joe.

 

Matt saw Tai kick a Pagumon like it was a soccer ball. The Pagumon ran away from them after that.

 

“Hey,” Tai said as he and Matt jumped behind the rocks. “Omegamon and Zudomon could use some help.”

 

“I know,” Izzy said, “but …”

 

“Electro Shocker!”

 

MetalFantomon was too fast and MegaKabuterimon’s attack hit the mountain above them showering them with rubble.

 

“but MetalFantomon is too fast,” Izzy continued. “We haven’t been able to hit him.”

 

“Flower Cannon!”

 

Lillymon’s attack missed too.

 

“Terra Force!”

 

A hot blast washed over Matt and he dove to the ground. He looked towards the sky to see a huge ball of energy hit MetalFantomon from nowhere, instantly destroying him.

 

BlackWarGreymon landed on the ground in front of them.

 

“BlackWarGreymon!” Tai cried, Matt could hear the relief in his voice. “Man, is it good to see you!”

 

They all stumbled out from behind the rock.

 

“Lillymon! MegaKabuterimon!” Mimi cried. “Help Omegamon and Zudomon!”

 

“Wait until Omegamon freezes him and then attack,” Matt yelled.

 

Lillymon, MegaKabuterimon, and BlackWarGreymon flew towards Deamon. They landed near Zudomon and Omegamon, circling around him.

 

Tai ran towards the digimon, Matt shared and exasperated look with the others before they all followed.

 

“I’m bet you’re glad you didn’t underestimate us Daemon,” Tai teased.

 

Daemon turned his gaze towards Tai, that was when Omegamon struck.

 

“Supreme Cannon!”

 

The blast hit Daemon, covering him in ice.

 

“Electro Shocker!”

 

“Vulcan’s Hammer!”

 

“Flower Cannon!”

 

“Terra Force!”

 

“Transcendent Sword!”

 

They all attacked at once. Daemon exploded in a cloud of ice and data.

 

Matt sighed in relief. He saw Omegemon drift apart and ran forwards to cuddle Tsunomon. “You were amazing buddy!”

 

Tai wrapped an arm around his shoulders and they laughed together as their Koromon ran off to celebrate with the other Koromon.

 

“We did it! We did it!”

 

Tai laughed again. “I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m ready to go home.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

They were all exhausted by the time they had returned to the Gekomon’s Palace but they still managed to celebrate with the Gekomon, Yokomon, and Koromon who had returned with them. BlackWarGreymon, Witchmon, Sunflowermon, and some other digimon Matt didn’t know had joined them. The Gekomon had somehow managed to get some food and had prepared a feast.

 

Matt had been relieved when they had arrived back to find that TK’s group had beaten them there. He and TK were sitting together, having just finished filling each other in on their fights.

 

“This is nice,” TK said looking out over the impromptu party. Tai and Mimi were dancing and messing around with a group of Gekomon. Izzy and Yolie were talking near the food, Izzy looked confused as he listened to Yolie talking about something. Joe and Cody were talking together while Gomamon tried to force Joe to dance. Davis and Ken were sitting close together whispering to each other. Sora and Kari were playing with a group of Yokomon. Matt noticed TK was watching Kari.

 

“You should go and talk to her,” Matt suggested.

 

TK blushed. “I will but I wanted to ask you something first.”

 

“What is it?”

 

“When we get back to our world would you consider having lunch with mum and I?”

 

Matt looked away bitting his lip. He sighed, who was he kidding? He could never say no to his brother.

 

“One lunch,” he conceded.

 

TK beamed. “Thank you Matt!” He gave Matt a quick hug before running off to talk to Kari.

 

It wasn’t long before Matt was joined by Sora.

 

“Hey.”

 

“Hi Sora. I’m glad you’re OK.”

 

Sora smiled. “You too. I’m so proud of you.”

 

He smiled back and gave her a kiss on the head.

 

“It’s nice isn’t it?” she said.

 

“What is?”

 

Sora pointed towards TK and Kari who were chatting happily.

 

“Oh, yeah.”

 

“Not everyone thinks so,” Sora nodded her head towards Tai who was glaring at the pair.

 

Matt snorted. “Come on,” he offered her a hand, let’s go deal with our idiot.”

 

Matt and Sora went to join Tai and Mimi.

 

“Hey Tai, can I talk to you for a second?” Matt asked.

 

Tai nodded and they walked off towards the door together.

 

“Sometimes I wonder if Tai is going to leave me for Matt,” Matt heard Mimi whisper. Matt glared at her but Tai only laughed and threw an arm Matt’s shoulders.

 

“Maybe I will Princess!” he called back.

 

“So what’s up?” Tai asked when they were out of ear shot.

 

“I wanted to remind you that you like TK.”

 

Tai frowned. “Sure, I like him when he’s not messing with my sister.”

 

“Tai, it’s _TK_ , you know he’s not like that.”

 

“Yeah, I know, sorry.”

 

They walked around outside for a few moments before they came across BlackWarGreymon.

 

“Hey BlackWarGreymon!” Tai called. “I wanted to say thank you again! We were really in trouble before you showed up.”

 

“I was doing my duty to protect the digital world,” BlackWarGreymon said.

 

“Thank you,” Matt said. “But how did you find us?”

 

“Your friend told me you were fighting a dangerous threat to the Digital World.”

 

Matt and Tai shared a puzzled look. “Our friend?”

 

“He looked like a human, like you but older.”

 

“Gennai?” Matt asked.

 

“Hello Matt, Tai,” a voice said. Matt and Tai jumped and spun to see Gennai standing behind them. “I hope I’m not too late for the party.”

 

* * *

 

 

**TK**

 

“Where the hell have you been Gennai?” Matt asked.

 

The DigiDestined had moved into a private room, they could still hear the sound of the party but the mood in their room was much more tense.

 

“I emailed,” Izzy said. “When there was an infection threatening digimon, threatening Biyomon even, and you said nothing. You said nothing when our two worlds were on the brink of war, or when the portals split us up!”

 

“Yeah,” Yolie said. “But now you here in time for the party.”

 

Gennai looked around the group. TK wondered if he was looking for someone to jump to his defence. No one did.

 

“I’m sorry I couldn’t be of more help before,” Gennai said. “I thought it was best if you dealt with this situation alone.”

 

“We’ve always had deal with everything alone,” Joe said. “But you could have at least told us what we were up against.”

 

Gennai sighed. “Well in any case I’m here now to close the gates and to send you home.”

 

“Send us home?” Kari repeated. Her and Gatomon exchanged a sad look. “Already?”

 

“Daemon, Dragomon, and all their supporters have been dealt with,” Gennai said as though it were obvious. “The Digital World has no further need of you.”

 

“No,” TK spoke up for the first time. “That’s not fair! You can’t just show up here after all this time and send us away like it’s nothing. If we’re ever going to build a better relationship between our worlds then the gates should be open, even if it’s just for us and our digimon.”

 

“TK,” Gennai said. “You know why we can’t allow that, your government would never allow it.”

 

“That’s not true,” Tai spoke up. “I know people in the government, I’ve been working with them. They want peace between our worlds, but TK’s right, we will never get peace if we’re not allowed to try.”

 

“Please Gennai,” Kari said. “We’ve been fighting for the Digital World for most of our lives, please let us have this, let us have a chance to be happy with our partners. Let other people see how much good digimon can do.”

 

Gennai looked around the group again. Everyone was looking at him with a mixture of defiance and hope. Gennai sighed, “fine, we’ll keep the gates open as a trial. Now can I open the gate to send you back?”

 

“Maybe later,” Mimi said. “We’re having a party at the moment, I think we’ve earned it don’t you?”

 

Mimi walked past a stunned Gennai. The others quickly followed her out and joined the party before Gennai could argue.

 

“TK,” Kari’s soft voice came from behind him.

 

“Hi Kari,” TK’s voice was cut off as Kari threw his arms around his neck.

 

“Thank you TK,” she said, “for what you said to Gennai. I can’t believe we’re finally getting a chance to make my dream come true.”

 

TK tightened his arms around her. “I’d do anything to make your dreams come true,” he said honesty.

 

* * *

 

 

That night TK was back in his own room sitting at his desk with Patamon. He had his laptop open staring at a blank document when him mum walked in.

 

She ran a gentle hand through his hair. “I’m so glad you’re home,” she kissed him gently. “I worry so much when you go away.”

 

“Hopefully it was the last time,” TK said. “Besides you don’t have to worry, Patamon and Matt always keep me safe.”

 

Him mum’s hand stopped moving. “Matt’s a good boy,” she said.

 

“He is,” TK agreed. “I think he could use you telling him that though. He agreed to have lunch with us soon.”

 

“With … with both of us?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Oh, that’s fantastic.”

 

TK smiled brightly, “yeah it is.”

 

“So what are you writing?” his mum looked curiously over his shoulder.

 

“A story. I wanted to write about our adventures in the Digital World, what do you think?”

* * *

**3 Years Later**

 

It’s been three years since our last adventure in the Digital World. So far our agreement with Gennai is holding up. Our digimon are allowed to travel freely between the worlds and we can visit whenever we like.

 

The older kids have finished high school now. Tai is still working with agent Shuu and the government. Most digimon only trust the DigiDestined so Tai sometimes works as a liaison between the two worlds. He is still dating Mimi. The Gekomon started have started calling him Prince Tai to Tai’s embarrassment.

 

Much to Matt’s horror Mimi is still cooking. Tai and Agumon love her food even if no one else does. She says she wants to have her own show one day. Mimi isn’t worried about what people think of her anymore.

 

After high school Matt went to university and he’s studying physical science. He still doesn’t know what he wants to do but he isn’t as worried about the future anymore. He sees mum every now and again, it’s not as awkward as it use to be. Mum is very proud of how well he’s doing with his studies. He is still dating Sora, he told me he is planning on proposing soon.

 

Mimi convinced Sora that she should pursue her talent for fashion. She’s at school studying fashion at the moment. Biyomon is glad that Sora is doing more of things that make her happy. She still plays tennis and uses her free time to help coach tennis and soccer.

 

Even though they’re all busy Matt, Tai, Sora, and Mimi still spent a lot of time together and often go on double dates.

 

Izzy is studying at the same university as Matt. No one but Yolie and Ken really understand what he is studying, something about computers. He helps out Tai out with research on the Digital World every now and again.

 

Joe is getting close to finishing his medical degree. He’s very busy but still makes time to see his friends. His parents are very proud. Gomamon is still trying to get him to loosen up.

 

Yolie finished highschool a year before us and is taking some time to travel. She sends us lots of post cards and she’s meeting DigiDestined all over the world.

 

Cody still has a year of high school left. He is thinking of studying law when he finishes.

 

Davis, Ken, Kari, and I have just graduated high school. Davis and Tai are planning a big party to celebrate.

 

Davis and Ken surprised most people when they started dating after our last adventure. Davis is much less annoying whenever Ken is around and they seem happy together. Davis is still planning to open a noodle cart. He has us around all the time to test his recipes, most of them are good but some of his combinations rival Mimi’s in strangeness.

 

Most of us thought Ken would study science or maths at university but he’s said he had enough of that when he was younger and he wants to go into law enforcement. Davis keeps saying he’s going to steal Ken’s badge and use it to cut in lines, none of us are sure if he’s joking or not.

 

Kari is over joyed that there is peace between our worlds. She wants to be a teacher and teach children about the importance of living in peace with each other. She spends a lot of time visiting the Digital World and helping digimon. Kari and I started dating last year. So far it seems to going well and we’re very happy. We’re going on a date to the Digital World this week.

 

I’m still writing. I’m studying writing at school and mum says she might be able to get me a job at her newspaper if I’m interested. I’m still writing about our adventures. Some parts of the story, like Angemon’s fight with Devimon, are hard to think about but I find that writing helps.

 

I don’t know if we’ll be called back to help the Digital World again but I do know that, if we are, our group will be up to any challenge, as long as we’re together.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, thank you for reading. Please try to be kind with your feedback. 
> 
> If you want to see more of my writing you can visit me at
> 
> http://embracingmagicwriting.blogspot.com.au/


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